I Saw Hell in a Dream
by suredywordy
Summary: OC centric. Many pairings.
1. Chapter 1

_Aging is never a graceful experience_, Yamamoto thought to himself.

Although his body was kept fresh due to his immense reiatsu; his muscles and bones as strong as the day he was born, his digestion had become worse in the last few years and as he stared at his breakfast he sighed loudly.

"Is something wrong, sir?" His loyal lieutenant, Sasibake, asked from behind him. The old man shook his head, staring at the bowl of fiber-filled, nutritious oatmeal with nothing but contempt.

"No Sasibake, everything is fine." He responded, shoveling a spoonful of the tasteless gruel into his mouth. Where once his breakfasts had been delicious fruits and hearty meats, it was now oatmeal and yogurt. He never seemed to eat anything solid anymore.

"Shall I leave you, sir?" Yamamoto nodded, and without another word his lieutenant flash stepped away.

Despite the relative tastelessness of the meal, the aged Soutaicho still looked forward to his breakfast each day. It was the view, the view from the first squad's porch, located directly outside his office. Although he had seen the same view every year for over a thousand years, the site of the sunlight glittering and bouncing off the white stone of the entirety of Seretei astounded him every single morning. He had no need to wake up early, and did so solely for the view.

_Although I suppose it's slightly different now._ He mused silently. When he had first taken the position of Soutaicho, Seretei had simply been a district of Rukongai, one of the richest. However, within a half century it was converted to the military compound that it was now, the various noble occupants selling the land and moving to less urban areas.

Yamamoto finished his breakfast quietly, staring out at the view he had come to love so much in the last millennia.

Elsewhere, things were not so quiet.

"Really taicho, I don't understand why we have to be up this early."

Tall, dark, and… disheveled, Ken Kasumi groaned loudly as he sat down at his desk, placed next to his Captain's, and scratched the back of his head. His hair stuck every which way, and as Soi-Fon sat down at her desk she mused that it looked like a bomb had gone off in the middle of it.

"I didn't even get to shower." He complained, tipping back in his chair and chewing on a pen. Soi-Fon shrugged, smacking his legs lightly with a ruler when he tried to put his feet up on the desk.

"That's not my problem. If you had finished your paperwork yesterday, we wouldn't have to be up so early. Now get to work." Although her current lieutenant was certainly lazy, she had to admit that Ken was certainly an improvement from his predecessor. He complained often, and seemed to put more effort into getting her to abandon her paperwork than he actually did into the paperwork, but unlike Omaeda had done he actually helped with the paperwork.

_The best thing though, is that I will never again have to deal with the crunch of those fried crackers._ She thought, smiling, as Ken ran a hand through his messy black hair and picked up a large manila folder stuffed with paperwork.

Soi-Fon had a relatively small workload, having done most of it the day before, and finished within the hour. Standing up, she brushed some pencil shavings off of her pant legs and walked to her porch.

"This time, finish your paperwork before you leave." She commanded, opening the back door to her office and flash stepping away before he could utter an excuse. Ken was left alone, his only company the three-foot high stacks of paperwork on his desk. He sighed loudly, staring at the spot where his Captain had stood before getting back to work.

**Flick**

"C'mon…"

Flick

"C'mon…"

Flick

"Goddamit!" Kira paused with his hand on the door handle as the sound of breaking glass echoed out from inside his Captain's office. He waited a few seconds for any more crashes, before slowly opening the door and sticking his head in.

"Come in Kira. Can you believe this shit?" Kira closed the door behind him, walking over to his Captain's desk as Mugen kicked several shards of glass under a couch in the room.

"What happened?" The lieutenant inquired, sitting down at his Captain's desk with the day's stack of paperwork, which was incredibly small. Ever since Mugen had taken the position of Captain, people just learned to stop sending paperwork to the 3rd squad, knowing they would never get it back. Even Kenpachi did paperwork more often than Mugen, who had yet to sign off on a single thing. Only the most important of reports came through, and even they were rarely glanced at.

Mugen Kuriyuke was taller than most, and built quite solidly. Although he certainly had the potential to look handsome, he seemed not to care, and as such constantly looked like he had just gotten out of bed. He was rarely shaven, and seemed to have a constant case of 5 O'clock shadow, his hair was long and unruly and parted only over his right eye, and he had cut the bottom of his shinigami uniform pants with a Zanpakuto so that they were shorts. Finally, to top off this disheveled look, he simply refused to wear shoes unless it was raining, having instead developed the practice of keeping a small layer of reiatsu in between his feet and the ground so that he seemed to be constantly hovering a centimeter off the floor.

"Mayuri can invent a machine that opens a portal into another universe, a sword that can turn somebody into a liquid, but out of six lighters not one that works! Hado 31: Red fire." A tiny ball of red kido erupted from his hand, lighting the cigarette in between his lips before disappearing. Kira sighed. Although he liked his Captain, much more than most, even the most loyal of Mugen's friends tended to avoid him in the morning.

"If you don't mind me asking, taicho, why are you up so early?" As if in answer to his question, the door to Mugen's office opened to reveal Soi-Fon, who completely ignored Kira's presence and turned instead to the third squad Captain.

"Are you ready?" Mugen nodded, and the two of them silently left together.

Mugen had explained to Kira that Soi-Fon had agreed to teach him Shunko, if Mugen could help her with her swordsmanship. Although Mugen was arguably the best swordsman of all the Captains, his hand-to-hand skills were so poor that some of the stronger lieutenants could beat him in a straight spar. The exact opposite could be said of Soi-Fon, whose swordsmanship was barely up to par for a Captain, but whose hand-to-hand skills surpassed even those of her teacher Yoruichi.

Kira supposed he was lucky to have a Captain at all.

"No." Renji ducked a powerful kick to his head, throwing a powerful punch directly at his opponent's flat, bare stomach and sending her flying back a few feet. She ignored the pain that the blow must've caused, although he had gone easy on her, and came rushing back without hesitation. Renji ducked and swerved, avoiding the barrage of blows the pale girl threw at him, all the while taunting.

"No. No. No. Not even close- ack!" In a surprise move, the thin willowy lieutenant spun around in place, her long brunette hair smacking him in the face and briefly obscuring his vision, before delivering a roundhouse kick directly to his chest. Renji was sent flying back head over heels, before roughly smashing into a tree. When he opened his eyes his opponent was standing over him, staring down at him triumphantly.

"Well, looks like I have to start taking you seriously now, Himura." He said, dusting himself off as he stood up. She smirked, giving him a playful slap across the face.

"Probably, you could've avoided that embarrassing defeat. Pay up." Holding her palm out, Renji stared at it for a few moments before sighing and dropping a week's wage into the girl's grasp. Although it was the first time she'd ever beaten him, it was also the first time they'd ever bet on the results of their spar.

"Double or nothing?" He asked hopefully as the petite lieutenant strolled away. He received no response, and scratched the back of his head before flash stepping away and leaving the girl to her own devices.

"Did you win, Rikai?" The brunette nodded before sitting down to a desk full of paperwork, tossing the bag of coins she had earned into the air and catching it before stuffing the satchel into her pocket.

"Yes, taicho. He almost had me for a second though." Rikai's Captain was in the Captain's quarters, which was adjacent to the Captain's office, which was conveniently located right in front of the Fifth division sparring grounds.

"Good for you." With a small clicking sound, the door closed behind the Fifth Squad Captain, who strolled past Rikai to stare out at the now empty sparring grounds.

Guinevere was a tall, beautiful woman with a surprisingly noble air to her. Never did her countenance of thinly veiled emotion waver, never was her red lipstick smudged, never was a strand of hair out of place and the blue kimono which seemed to be her constant companion was never ruffled or wrinkled. If Rikai had been given one word to describe the woman, it would have been 'composed'.

"We have a meeting today." Her Captain said without turning around, just loud enough for Rikai to hear.

"What about, taicho?" Her lieutenant asked, feigning interest.

"I'm not sure." 


	2. Chapter 2

Shuhei groaned, rubbing the left side of his ribcage, where a large bruise was beginning to turn purple. He had gotten in a friendly argument with his Captain, and made the mistake of challenging her to a spar. She had defeated him without even drawing her sword, although she did use her sheath to knock him unconscious.

Kurugari Hikari was not an easy person to predict. When Shuhei had first met her, he assumed that she was related to Ukitake, or Toshiro, because of her long silver hair.

_For all I know she might be._ Although he had asked every Captain, lieutenant, and knowledgeable shinigami he had met, nobody seemed to know exactly who Hikari was.

She was a good Captain though. Her paperwork was always done on time, she trained harder than anyone he knew, and she always seemed to make time out of her day to pummel on him. All in all, Shuhei could not complain.

_Except for the bruises._ He thought to himself, wincing as an inhaled breath forced his ribcage to expand, bringing agonizing pain with the movement.

"Is that bruise hurting you, Hisagi?" His Captain asked. He shook his head, quickening his pace so he was walking besides her instead of behind her.

"No, taicho, I'm fine." Kurugari frowned.

"Hm. I will have to hit you harder in the future."

The two of them continued their walk in comfortable silence, headed towards the assembly hall. They arrived relatively early, just after the third squad, and Kurugari strolled past Kyouraku and Mugen, who were sipping sake while seated outside the large double doors of the assembly hall, and strolled inside.

The large wood paneled room was punctuated every few feet by a dual row of large columns, each of which were at least ten feet in diameter and stretched over sixty feet to the roof of the room, which was massive. Seated in his throne at the end of the room was Yamamoto, waiting patiently as the Captains slowly filed in. Kurugari took her place standing next to Saykora and leaving a spot on her left for Kyouraku.

The two dual wielding Captains, both slightly inebriated from their drinking session outside the assembly hall, were the last two inside. Kyouraku stumbled into place next to her, and the silver haired Captain rolled her eyes. Yamamoto seemed unfazed.

"The reason I have called this meeting," he said, pausing briefly to cough, "is to inform you of Central 46's new policy towards Vizards, Aarancars, and other hollow shinigami hybrids." At this, all of the Captain's attentions were piqued. This had been the defining issue of the new Central 46 for years, the debate over whether to allow sentient half-hollow beings in Seretei.

Yamamoto sighed loudly before continuing.

"Central 46 has ruled that all half hollow beings are to be… purified." While Kurugari did not mind one way or another, several of the Captains seemed… concerned… with the new ruling.

"Soutaicho, would it be possible to petition Central 46 to re-examine their policy before taking action?" Byakuya, being surprisingly vocal, asked as he stepped forward. Although his hands hung limply by his sides, and his expression was of the usual calm aloofness, something about the way he moved seemed to suggest outrage to Kurugari.

Yamamoto shook his head.

"There is nothing we can do except follow our orders. I am sending a squad of five Captains to Hueco Mundo tonight, to deal with the Aarancars. To minimize damage to the human world, we will lure the Vizards into Seretei to deal with them at a later date. Are there any volunteers for the mission to Hueco Mundo?" Not even Kenpachi raised his hand. Yamamoto surveyed the room briefly before sighing.

"If there is no one then I will pick. Karpyshyn-taicho, Kuriyuke-taicho, Saykora-taicho and Komamura-taicho will head the mission to Hueco Mundo. You are to meet at the Twelfth Squad's courtyard tonight at midnight. You are to eliminate any hollow hybrid beings found in the area."

Saykora was early to the Twelfth Squad, arriving at 11:50 as Mayuri was still setting up the Garganta machine. They met in a large, spacious and plane courtyard of white marble tile and white marble walls that stretched for a good half mile in each direction, and in the middle Mayuri and Nemu were both toiling over what looked to be a pair of large dark orbs. Saykora immediately walked over to the pair of them.

"How long will you be?" She asked coldly, folding her arms.

"Another five minutes, we're right on schedule." The masked Captain responded, not even looking up from his work, where he was tediously re-arranging a complicated system of wires.

The next Captain to arrive was Darzu Karpyshyn, of the Thirteenth. Of all the Captains, he was Saykora's least favorite, and had the habit of attempting to socialize with her. She had made it clear on a number of occasions that she did not want his company, but this never seemed to stop him.

"Hey Saykora-taicho, what's going on here?" He asked, as if she would know. She simply remained silent, pointedly not looking in his direction. The flat-topped Captain looked much like a military officer should. He had short cut hair, a square and clearly weathered face, and a body that was fit in a functional, but not attractive fashion. As for looking the role of 'Captain', Darzu was perfect. In Saykora's opinion, he was too nice to play it however.

Komamura emerged through the back door of the Twelfth Squad next, flanked by Mugen, who continually muttered about how unfair the mission was.

"'Hey Yamamoto it's Central 46, we just thought it'd be a good idea to kill everyone who helped you out with that whole Aizen thing. What do you think about that?' 'Well hur-dee-dur Central 46 that sure does sound like a good idea, gosh you guys are super smart.'" Darzu laughed at this, although Saykora got the impression that if you could hate someone to death, Komamura would have destroyed Mugen the second he mentioned Yamamoto's name.

"Yamamoto-Soutaicho is a great man of impeccable judgment, unlike yourself." The dog-Captain snapped, his fangs borne at his fellow shinigami. Mugen looked unfazed, but only cracked one more joke at Yamamoto's expense before stopping.

"If you're all done bickering now, I'm going to explain how the Garganta works, so listen up." All four of the Captains turned to Mayuri, who pointed to the pair of black orbs.

"These things essentially use electromagnetism to break open a portal in between universes. They're powered off reiatsu, and I'm the only person in all of the Gotei 13 who knows the spell and has enough reiatsu to cast it." Mayuri took a few steps, pacing with his hands behind his back as he spoke.

"But, it is a very draining spell, and I won't be able to cast it for another day at the least. So you'll be spending the night in Hueco Mundo no matter what. I don't have any way to monitor you in Hueco Mundo, so I'm giving you these." Mayuri tossed Komamura a large brown burlap sack. Upon looking inside, the Captains found several 'MRE' bars, water bottles, and personal GPS machines.

"What's this?" Mugen asked, holding up a fist sized blue orb.

"I'm glad you asked. I have no way of knowing where the spell will drop you in Hueco Mundo, but I do know that wherever it is, when I re-cast it that's where the Garganta is going to re-open. Drop that orb there and it'll send out a signal you can find with your GPS, the Garganta will get re-cast after 24 hours and only stays open for 15 minutes, so make sure you're on time. Now come on, I'm getting impatient."

"Are you sure they're coming?" Grimmjow asked, twirling a stick he had found in between his fingers absentmindedly. Next to him, a rather striking green haired hollow nodded.

"Yes, they said they sent word over the intercom, we are to meet them here." Harribel, the only other surviving Aarancar, only other female Aarancar, and only other Aarancar in existence who could challenge Neliel, was silent from Grimmjow's other side. It was assumed by all of them, Harribel included, that Neliel was in charge.

"Did you remove the barrier, Syazel?" The green haired Aarancar leader asked her counterpart, a bespectacled hollow with an ever-present smug grin. He nodded.

"Yes, Neliel-sama. They will have no trouble reaching us."

The four of them, the only Aarancar to survive Aizen's war with the shinigami, had been allowed to live peacefully in Hueco Mundo. But since the day the war had ended, they had been campaigning vigorously to be allowed to live with the shinigami in Seretei. This was the first instance of the shinigami actually coming down to their world to meet them, and Neliel wanted the Aarancar to look civil. They waited on top of the dome of Las Noches, a vantage point that would give them a view for hundreds of miles in each direction.

They waited silently for another half hour before Harribel suddenly turned to her left, the other three following suit and soon zeroing in on four approaching reiatsu signals, all of them Captain level. None of them were familiar to Nel, and she didn't have time to ask her allies before all four of the approaching suddenly flash stepped to the top of the dome. Nel smiled warmly.

"Hello, and welcome to Las Noch-" The largest of the Captains, a man who looked to be more fox than man, stepped forward and cut her off. Unrolling a large scroll, he coughed loudly before beginning to read in an assertive tone.

"Under the order of Central 46, all hollow-shinigami hybrids are to have their souls purified immediately, so that they may be reincarnated. If you do not comply, your souls will be forcibly purified." All four of the Aarancar stared in astonishment, even Harribel seemed frozen in place. Walking forth, Neliel held her hands up in peace and shook her head, trying to act friendly.

"What? You must be mistaken. I assure you our intent is nothing-" She was cut off once more as the fox like Captain drew his sword, swinging it at her head. It was only due to Harribel's speedy intervention that Nel was not decapitated.

The blonde hollow locked swords with the Captain, kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying, pursuing closely. Grimmjow and Syazel, both knowing what to do, both attacked two of the other Captains present. Syazel and a stern looking woman both flash stepped inside the dome, while Grimmjow knocked the man who appeared to be the Thirteenth Squad Captain to the side of the dome opposite the one Harribel had disappeared to. This left Nel with the last Captain left, who was casually lighting a cigarette.

"If I let you go, are you going to go help your friends?" He asked, staring at her neutrally with one dark green pupil. Nel drew her sword.

"Of course." Leveling it at her opponent, she slowly ran her eyes over him, absorbing every last bit of information she could.

Screaming wordlessly, Grimmjow lunged at his opponent, swinging his sword like a madman. The Captain had yet to pierce his hierro, although by the same measure Grimmjow had yet to land a blow on the flat-topped man since the lucky kick he had planted in his stomach on top of the dome. The shorter man was agile, and managed to dodge everything Grimmjow threw at him, although he was so hard pressed to do so he didn't have any time to go on the offensive.

Finally, after what seemed like and endless pursuit, Grimmjow managed to rake his sword across the man's left shoulder. The blue haired Aarancar grinned madly, as Darzu cried out in pain, swinging his sword at the Espada to drive him back. Grimmjow jumped a few feet back, smiling and flicking the blood off his katana.

"I knew you bastards weren't ever going to let us in." The Thirteenth Squad Captain slowly stood up, groaning loudly.

"It wasn't my choice, I wanted to let you in." Grimmjow shrugged.

"Doesn't matter now." The flat-topped Captain stared at him for a second before holding his sword high above his head, an action which seemed to take a lot of effort due to his wounded shoulder, which was dripping profusely and standing the alabaster sand under his foot.

"Howl, Ookami-Nida."

Nel was having some trouble with her opponent. Although she was faster in terms of flash stepping; her sonido easily outpacing his Shunpo, which was average for a Captain at best, his reflexes were incredible. It didn't make her feel any better that he was only using one of his two swords. Neither of the two had cut each other yet.

"Why aren't you using your other sword, shinigami?" She asked, leaning backwards to avoid a strike that would've lopped off her head at the neck. It passed so close to her face that for just a moment she could quite clearly see the bright green reflection of her pupils in the blade.

She lashed out with her own Zanpakuto, but the Captain simply stepped to the side and avoided the stab.

"You've got to earn it." She grunted in pain as his sword lightly flicked against her thigh, making a shallow wound. Flash stepping backwards, she assumed a defensive stance, but found he was not pursuing her. He was patiently waiting for her to rush him.

Her opponent, with his shaggy brown hair and one visible eye, was an odd one. His two swords appeared to both be wakizashi, and fit his style well. Whenever Nel would slice or stab at him, his response was to dodge the blow while remaining close to her and quickly lash out with his own sword, a style that perfectly fit his fast reflexes while compensating for his slow flash stepping.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked.

"Orders. I think its bullshit. Like I said if you want to run, I won't go after you. But if you're going to go help your friends I can't let you go." Nel cocked an eyebrow.

"Let me? You seem awfully confident."

Her opponent, looking deadly serious for the first time since the beginning of their fight, shook his head.

"From the moment you drew your sword, I knew you were no match for me."

Saykora's problem with her opponent was the exact opposite of Neliel's. Although she had no problem keeping up with the Aarancar, whose pink hair and outfit made him seem rather flamboyant, his physical strength was overwhelming. So much so that she was being forced back, even while on the offensive, if she had to block even once.

"My, the last Captain I faced was much more threatening. Do you know what he did to me?" The quick buzz of Sonido was barely enough of a signal for Saykora to duck out of the way as the Aarancar appeared behind her, stabbing his sword through the air where her neck would have been if she hadn't moved. She rolled on the ground, standing up immediately into a defensive stance. Her opponent simply smiled, seemingly preoccupied with his sword instead of hers.

"He left me with part of his sword embedded into my chest, and in a chemically induced state where a minute took centuries to pass. I waited for so long. Truth be told, if I ever was allowed into Seretei my first order of business was going to be to get revenge on the man." At this, he aimed his cold gaze in her direction.

"But I suppose you'll have to do." He pointed his forefinger out in her direction, Saykora's eyes widened as a pink cero charged in his fingertips and fired, racing towards her too fast to dodge.

"Break the skies, Tsukiryuu!"

Nel was making a little progress. She had managed to nick the man's cheek, and although she had gained a large gash across her back in the process, she considered it a victory for herself. Once again, the two of them were standing approximately ten feet apart, staring each other down.

"You're analyzing me, aren't you?" He asked. Nel nodded.

"That's what any good warrior would do."

"Well, what are your conclusions?" The green haired Aarancar began circling to her left, which her opponent responded to by doing the same. Never did either of the two take their gaze off the other.

"Your swordsmanship is top notch, probably the best I've ever seen, but your Shunpo is at best average for someone of your level. You make up for it with quick reflexes, a style that focuses on close quarters combat, and a high level of physical strength… and you're not taking me as seriously as you should." Mugen grinned.

"Well you've got to make me take you seriously." At that, Nel nicked the tip of her forefinger with her sword.

"Oh I will, rest assured."

Grimmjow was getting frustrated. His opponent's Zanpakuto was extremely annoying. Every time the blue haired Aarancar would land a fatal blow on the man, he would just heal himself. It wasn't as if it was even a contest, Grimmjow was clearly the superior warrior, just not superior enough to cut the man's head off before he could use his Zanpakuto.

_Wait a minute._ The blue haired Aarancar grinned as he came up with the perfect strategy. Rushing towards the Captain and dodging a stab aimed for his heart, Grimmjow caught the man by his wrist.

"Dumb." The ex-Espada frowned in confusion at the Captain's choice of expression.

"What do you-"

"Bankai."

In a flash, as Grimmjow tried to pull away from the rapidly expanding blast of white reiatsu, he realized that the situation had switched. Now, Darzu was holding onto _his_ wrist, and in a burst of pain Grimmjow felt three blades pierce his stomach.

The two of them plummeted out of the plume of reiatsu, towards the porcelain white sand of Hueco Mundo, and Grimmjow was momentarily distracted as he watched a drop of his own blood dislodge itself from his skin and fly onto his opponent's cheek. He was brought back to the real world as, with shocking force that almost knocked the ex-Septima unconscious, the two of them collided with the ground below. Grimmjow, of course, breaking his opponent's fall.

There was another burst of pain as the Captain withdrew the blades from Grimmjow's stomach, and the hollow then saw what it was that had caused him so much agony. The Captain now wore a pair of gloves, ornately woven with shining metal that went all the way up to his shoulders and were studded with spikes. On his right hand, where three particularly jagged looking spikes stuck out of the end of the metal garment that was his opponent's Bankai, Grimmjow could see his own blood dripping from the claws.

"Arfu-Ookami." With a loud hissing sound, the spikes at the end of the Captain's gloves dislodged themselves, shooting out steam, and Grimmjow barely flash stepped away in time to avoid them as they shot out and buried themselves in the sand where he had just been. They remained there for a second, as Grimmjow doubled over in pain, before shooting back to Darzu's hand, the sand having rubbed most of the blood off the blades so that they shone like new.

"Heh, maybe you're not so boring. Grind, Pantera!"

Nel fired her Gran Rey Cero at the Captain, watching him closely. The second he began his flash step, and she could anticipate where he would go, she sonidoed to the spot. Beating him there, 'surprised' was an understatement as to the expression he had when he saw her, not dodging quickly enough to avoid being grazed by her sword, which nicked his chest and stomach, creating a long shallow cut down the center of his uniform.

He did a handspring backwards, a surprisingly agile move, and landed on his feet smiling at her.

"Well, I think you've earned it. But before I do this I'm going pitch my offer one last time. Run now; just run, so I don't have to kill you. Please." He said, slowly reaching for the unused sword on his hip. Nel shook her head.

"I can't do that." With a loud rasp, Mugen drew his other Wakizashi, sighing loudly as if a great weight had pulled from his shoulders.

"Alright…"

For the first time since their fight had started, Mugen came at her. Zig-zagging from side to side as he ran at her, he increased his speed at the last second. Her eyes widened as, instead of swinging at her, he instead ducked under her sword and quickly sliced in an X pattern across her stomach, running past her and emerging behind her as she gasped in pain.

_I've never seen someone move so fast._ She thought, astounded, as she stumbled around to face him. For a moment, he stared at her with completely unhidden regret, before charging her again.

Syazel circled his opponent, unsure what to make of the new development. A mist-like substance had emerged from the hilt of his opponent's sword, whose blade was now gone, and had been replaced with what looked like a blue dragon. It's eyes glowed red like hot embers, and although he could not see exactly where it was looking, the scientist got the impression it was staring at him.

With a flick of her wrist, his opponent created a ripple in the mist-made-creature, it quickly charged at him, and he was forced back as he began blocking the thing's claws with his Zanpakuto. Although he was equal with the dragon in speed, he had clearly lost the advantage of physical strength. Sparks flew as it collided with his katana, driving him back until he forced it back with a quickly charged cero, panting heavily from the effort.

"Tsukiryuu is quite a unique Zanpakuto." The Captain he was facing said from behind the opaque dragon, which he could see her silhouette through.

"While I can control her movements, most of the time she acts on her own. If it were my choice, right now she'd be eating you. But she wants to play." The woman's voice was cold and devoid of all emotion, not even a hint of malicious intent. For the first time in many years, Syazel found himself feeling slightly nervous.

The dragon rushed him again, and though he mounted the best defense he could, its superior strength overwhelmed him. He hissed in pain as its claws raked across the skin of his chest, tearing through his hierro like butter and piercing deep. Driving it back once more with a cero, he quickly twirled his sword above his open mouth.

"Sip, Fornikarasu!"

Nel was losing. Not badly, not yet, but she was losing and would die soon. Her opponent clearly outclassed her, a far superior warrior. She was only alive because she had been fighting with reckless tenacity, but her energy was running out as the slow but steady blood loss from the cuts across her stomach and thighs was beginning to build up.

The two of them both stopped for a second; shocked out of their battle as to their right Harribel's reiatsu skyrocketed, along with that of the Captain that she was fighting. Both of them knew that the fox/man was no match for the blonde Aarancar.

"Shit." Turning to Nel, her opponent shrugged his shoulders and sighed loudly.

"If you're going to use your ressurecion, I suggest you do it now. Flow, Muerte Líquida." Bright blue light engulfed both of his swords for a moment, making Nel unable to see them. Once the light had receded, he held two much more formidable looking weapons.

Surrounding his hands were large metal orbs, out of which two large swords that looked much like Harribel's except that they had no holes in their middles and had serrated edges, sprouted. Nel had no idea what their powers were, and she doubted her opponent would inform her.

He came at her, once again zigzagging from side to side before increasing his speed a the last second, an approach which he used consistently that she still hadn't gotten used to. He swung both of his swords at her, bearing down at her chest, and Nel raised hers to block. As the two of their blades met her eyes widened as hers passed through his like liquid. The swords continued on their paths, unimpeded, their serrated edges taking huge chunks out of Nel's flesh.

He ran past her once more, emerging behind her as she sank to her knees, the pain too much to take.

"You should've run. At least then one of you would've survived." She could do nothing as she fell face forward, her energy gone, her will to fight no longer enough. She heard the padding of his footsteps behind her, felt the press of the cold steel of his sword against her neck.

"What's your name?" He asked. The only part of him Nel could see was his feet, which were meticulously clean, and seemed to hover an inch above the rapidly spreading pool of blood beneath her.

"Why do you want to know?" She asked, her voice little more then a rasp. He didn't respond and she sighed, using her last bit of energy to roll herself over so she could watch as he killed her. He stared down at her with one sympathetic eye, and though she knew better, Nel could've sworn she saw a tear rolling down his cheek.

"Neliel Tu Oderschvank." With that, all of her energy was gone, and her world went dark.

Darzu stood over his opponent's bloody corpse, having sealed his Zanpakuto. The blue haired Aarancar had died smiling, which was probably a good thing for him, as his lifeless eyes stared up at the artificial sky above them. Darzu tilted his head back to look up, watching a simulated cloud slowly roll by, conscious of the fact that Saykora had defeated her opponent some time ago, that Mugen's reiatsu along with that of his opponent's had disappeared, probably taking the fight somewhere away from the dome, and that Komamura had released his Bankai.

He reasoned that he should go help the fox like Captain, and took one last wistful look at his blue haired opponent, whose body was slowly dissipating into shards of bright white reiatsu, the vibrant colors of his hair and blood contrasting the repetitive whiteness of the buildings and sand around them, before flash stepping up to the top of the dome. There was a large hole there that he maneuvered himself through, emerging into what had clearly been a battle scene.

Had he been a more squeamish man, Darzu might've vomited at the amount of blood. He could not tell if it was Mugen's, or his opponent's, but there was no body present. The crimson liquid of life was slowly dripping down the dome, rapidly picking up speed, and battle hardened though he was the Thirteenth Squad Captain could not help but shudder.

"Karpyshyn-taicho, we should go assist Komamura-taicho." Whirling around, he was surprised to see Saykora standing right behind him.

_When did she get here?_ He wondered, shrugging off the thought and nodding.

"Yeah, let's go."

When Nel woke up the first thing she noticed was the warmth on her stomach. It was not a burning warmth, nor was it a comforting warmth, but instead something that seemed to seep and smolder pleasantly into her flesh. She opened her eyes slowly, wondering if she was dead.

She was lying on some kind of cloth, something large and white, and began to slowly sit up. As soon as she tried to do so, the pleasant warmth was gone from her stomach and replaced with searing pain; she fell back down with a gasp.

"Don't move yet." Jerking her head to the side, she saw the Captain who had nearly killed her earlier sitting with his back against one of Hueco Mundo's many 'rock trees'. His cloak was gone, and she realized that she was lying on it. Furthermore, she realized she was naked from the waste up; her only cover several white strips of bandage that seemed to be supplying the warmth to her body.

"Do me a favor, and keep your reiatsu down, the last thing I need is to be found taking care of you." She covered herself as best as she could with her arms, although he was facing away from her.

"Why are you-"

"Had to cut up your shirt for the bandages. And I'm only half sorry for that." He said with a smile, exhaling a large puff of smoke.

"Only half sorry?" He laughed, turning to her.

"Well of all the people I've ever had to bandage up, you're definitely the hottest." Nel blushed.

"Why did you save me?" She asked after a few moments of silence. The Captain's jolly attitude disappeared as he responded.

"I don't know. You just… I don't know. Forget about it. Just rest for now, I'll wake you up before I leave." The green haired Aarancar tilted her head forward, watching him, and he slowly turned her head so that their eyes locked. He looked surprisingly relaxed.

"What?" Nel shook her head, leaning back once again.

"Nothing."

She couldn't remember when she had fallen asleep; all she knew was that she woke up some time later. The Captain, her rescuer, was gathering his things up into a bag and shook her lightly by the shoulder.

"Neliel, you got to get up." Before she saw him, she could smell him, the smell of a battle she had been fighting in, of blood and sweat. She opened her eyes and saw he knelt at her side, and had taken off his gi top at some point to cover her.

"Neliel, I got to go. The salve is done, you should be healed." As Nel sat up the Captain slowly pulled his cloak out from under her, coughing awkwardly.

"I'm going to need my gi back…"She nodded, handing him the black gown and covering her breasts with her arm as he shrugged it on, followed by the Captain's cloak.

"You didn't hear this from me," he grunted, swinging a large burlap sack over his shoulders and removing some kind of device from his pants pocket, "but if I were you I would go to Karakura town and advice Urahara Kisuke and the Visoreds that the same thing that just happened to you is going to happen to them." He rolled his shoulders, which popped so loudly she could hear it from where she stood ten feet away.

"Any who… good luck." And with a flash step, he left Nel to peal the crusty bandages off of her stomach.


	3. Chapter 3

****Quick Note: From now on most of the story will be in first person POV. I will make sure to mention who is narrating.

Example:

***ICHIGO POV***

I was all like 'oh man, I'm Ichigo'

**3rd person POV**

In another world, Urahara Kisuke was watching as Tessai heaved a set of heavy boxes on top of a high shelf, with Ururu jumping up, her palm barely scraping the bottom of the box as if she thought it would help.

"Ururu why don't you go play with Jinta?" The shy little girl nodded, clutching her hands in front of her nervously and sprinting out the shop's front door to the dirt patch outside. Tessai watched her go, dusting his hands off on his apron and smiling.

"There goes my little girl." He said, his voice wavering from the force of held back tears. Urahara rolled his eyes, sucking disinterestedly on his lollipop.

"Oi Urahara, how long until the lunch is ready?" The shopkeeper tilted his head back and found himself staring up at one of the most powerful shinigami ever to live.

"Oh not long now, Kurosaki-san, another ten minutes at most." After the war, the boy had ditched his gigai with the plans of moving to Seretei, to be with his beloved Rukia. Unfortunately for him, the Central 46 was still debating whether or not to allow Vizards and Aarancars into Seretei. He was stuck permanently in his shinigami form, and could not rejoin his normal life.

Fortunately for all of them the Gotei 13 were supposedly coming to pick them up tomorrow, so that they could move back to Seretei where they belonged. The shopkeeper had been categorized along with the Vizards and Aarancar, as well as Yoruichi and Tessai. Urahara sighed loudly, impatient for the next day to come.

"If only I could invent a time machine." He chuckled.

"How did your mission go, taicho?" Arata asked Darzu as the flat-topped shinigami strolled into his office. Darzu frowned, shaking his head, stopping in front of his lieutenant at the desk and folding his thick arms over his chest.

"It was horrible. I had to end an innocent life, Komamura almost got killed, and the Aarancar he was fighting got away." Arata scoffed, propping his feet up on the desk and smiling smugly. The Thirteenth Squad Captain cocked an eyebrow, noticing that a small black piece of gunk on the bottom of Arata's left sandal belied the pristine countenance his lieutenant asserted.

"If I were a Captain, I wouldn't let some hollow beat me." Darzu chuckled. His lieutenant had a reputation for being unnecessarily cocky, and it had gotten him into trouble many a time before. But for all his faults Darzu knew he could count on Arata, he responded with a friendly joke while opening the door to his bedroom.

"If you were a Captain, I'd have to start drinking again!" He yelled before closing the door.

"Taicho please no! I swear I worked on it I swear!" Matsumoto had never been dragged by her hair down the hallways of her squad before, but there was a first time for everything.

"Matsumoto-fukutaicho," her Captain began sternly, opening the door to her office, "you will not leave this office. Not even for so much as to go to the bathroom, until every last bit of paperwork has been filled out. Every day that it is not, I will dock you a week's pay." Upon Saykora's desk was a mountain of paperwork so high that it blocked the sight of the open door behind it, which led out to the Tenth Squad's porch. Matsumoto gulped as the door slammed behind her, leaving her locked in the office. She slowly strolled over to the sturdy mahogany desk, which was bowing under the weight of the papers.

"Hey Kira." Mugen said as he walked into his bedroom, undressing. His lieutenant didn't even look up from the desk, having learned that even as he was getting naked his Captain rarely closed the door to his bedroom.

"Hey taicho. Did the mission go well?" Mugen yelled his answer as he slid open the wooden door to his restroom.

"Very. Anything important happen while I was gone?" He asked, stepping into his bathroom and turning on the shower. His Lieutenant's voice carried through the wall.

"No, Kyouraku-taicho is outside for you though. I'll tell him you're in the shower."

"Thanks Kira." He mumbled, sticking his foot into the rushing stream of water and immediately withdrawing the appendage when the heat scalded his skin.

**Nel's POV**

Shrugging my shoulders once more in an unsuccessful attempt to get used to Grimmjow's uniform top, which I had salvaged from his corpse and cleaned the blood stains from, I took the final step out from the Garganta and into the real world. Karakura town…

"My god." To someone whose life had consisted of a never-ending desert, punctuated by the occasional canyon or rock formation in the shape of foliage, the human world was so… vivid. Bright lights, tall buildings rivaling the towers of Las Noches, and as I looked down beneath me I could see hundreds of people milling about. Some of them being dragged by animals attached to their hands by a tether … others crawling inside of what appeared to be large metal insects.

It was so shocking, that for a few seconds I forgot to conceal my reiatsu. After the initial shock, however, I quickly subdued it, using my Pesquisa in an attempt to locate someone familiar.

"Ichigo…" Oddly enough, he seemed to be everywhere at once. I scowled, realizing what was wrong. With a reiatsu as massive as his, he was constantly leaking into the surrounding world, making his trail impossible to follow.

"What to do…" It was in times like this I wished my fraccion were still alive. They had been murdered by Yammy during his battle with the two Captains; sadly I had reverted to my child form and had no memory of their final words. Were they alive now, we could split up and form search groups.

Unfortunately, the power to give life was not one of mine. I sighed, heading in the direction where the reiatsu was thickest.

**Urahara's POV**

I frowned, wondering if there was something wrong with my sensors. A few years back, I had placed reiatsu sensors around all of Karakura Town, sensors more powerful than even the most acute Shinigami. Now matter how much even the most experienced Captain tried, they would never be able to match these machines.

But this… made no sense. I was picking up two Aarancar reiatsu signatures; each of which was Vasto Lorde level. Unless the remaining Espada had left Hueco Mundo, this should not have been happening.

"Lower map please." At the sound of my voice the computer obeyed, a flat screen dropping out of a slot in my ceiling and hovering in midair in front of me.

"Turn on radar please." I frowned as the radar activated, showing that both one of the reiatsu signatures were headed my way fast.

"Run diagnostics on all sensors please." After two minutes of whirring and clicking as my computer worked, a light tenor called out to me from the screen.

"All sensors functioning. Warning, potentially dangerous reiatsu levels detected, immediate action is advised."

**Yoruichi's POV**

Urahara, Tessai, Ichigo and I waited outside his shop for the two Aarancar who were approaching. Each of us was on edge, ready for a possible battle.

"Ichigo do you recognize either of the two signals?" I asked mockingly. Recently Ichigo had been training in kido and sensing reiatsu, and was having a hard time picking up either of them. He frowned, his brow furrowing and his jaw clenching in concentration… but after a minute stopped and sighed.

"I can't tell."

"I recognize one." Urahara mumbled. The three of us turned to him in surprise.

"It's the ex-Tercera. That's the third Espada. She fought the late Hitsugaya-taicho." The shopkeeper specified, tilting his hat back so that his eyes were visible. He stared off into the distance, where one of them was approaching, the other one coming from behind us. Both of their reiatsus were obviously being suppressed, as even I could barely sense them while I was looking for them.

"I thought Aizen had killed her."

**Nel's POV**

Harribel, whom I had not known survived, arrived at the shop a few seconds after I had. Immediately upon recognizing me, Ichigo, who was standing outside with three other warriors of Captain class caliber, recognized me and convinced his allies I was not a threat. When Harribel arrived, I was able to vouch for her.

The six of us had moved inside the shop and were having tea in the living room. I sat upon the bare, straw mat floor, at one end of a rectangular dark mahogany table that was polished so perfectly I could see my reflection. A reflection which reminded me that Grimmjow's uniform was far too skimpy. Harribel was recounting her experience with the shinigami, nearing the end of her story.

"After defeating the fox-shinigami, I searched for Nel-sama's reiatsu. I found it, but was being approached by two Captains, and could not defeat all three of them. I fled. Nel-sama must've defeated her opponent and done the same." I shook my head, swallowing my tea and placing the mug I had been drinking out of down on the table.

"Not quite. I was defeated, but then the Captain healed me and let me go." Ichigo's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Do you know which Captain?" I frowned, thinking back.

**Yoruichi's POV**

"He was the Captain of the Third Squad. I don't think he ever told me his name. He was actually the one who told me to come here and warn you." Nel explained. Urahara pursed his lips, tilting his hat forwards so none of us could not see his eyes.

"This is some very disturbing news." He mumbled, absentmindedly tipping his teacup until the water would reach the very brim of the cup, threatening to spill onto the pristine table beneath it, only to slowly ease it down flat onto its base so he could once more repeat the process. After a few more tippings, during which the rest of us brooded in silence, he stood up.

"Ichigo, please go alert Shinji and all them as to what has happened. Neliel-san, Harribel-san, I'll show you to your rooms and the showers. Yoruichi, could you get them some fresh clothes please? I think they're both about your size." I nodded, strolling off to my room in the back of the shop without a second glance. Tessai sat quietly as the rest of us all exited the room, no doubt mulling things over in his mind.

Not that I could blame him. I was used to running from the Shinigami, I had been an outlaw for many years… but this just seemed wrong. Most surprising was that they had reversed their policy on Ichigo, the man who single-handedly killed Aizen.

_Well, not single-handedly… _I thought to myself. _…his inner hollow had a lot to do with it._

Still, it was quite a turn for the worse. The shop would have to move. Ichigo would be forced to run, no longer able to have visits from his beloved Rukia… or see his friends ever again…

I couldn't help but feel bad for the kid, my pity making me frown as I picked out some clothes for the two Aarancar, setting Nel up with a white ribbed tank top and a black miniskirt and Harribel with a pair of skinny jeans and a yellow t-shirt. I took their clothes to the room Kisuke had left open for them, placing them in two neatly folded piles and heading out to the living room where I could hear Urahara and Ichigo arguing.

As I opened the door Urahara sipped his tea leisurely while Ichigo yelled.

"We can't just run and let them push us around, we have to fight back!" I chuckled, sitting down next to Ichigo and patting him on the shoulder.

"You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, do you Ichigo?" He scowled and I continued.

"I understand that you're angry. But you must know, this will not be a friendly spar between us and the Gotei 13. Those two Aarancar got lucky, because for the rest of your life if you ever see a shinigami, it will be a fight to the death. And if we take the fight to them, it won't be a friendly fight," His eyes narrowed as I reached my conclusion, " would you be willing to kill your friends, Ichigo? Renji, Byakuya… Rukia?" At the last name his eyes grew wide and for a second he dropped his angry façade. I smiled, shaking my head.

"Besides, in a thousand years, nobody has even come close to beating the Gotei 13. Aizen was hardly the first one to try." I reached down for Urahara's mug of tea, taking it without a second thought and raising it to my lips. As I had expected, it was far too bitter. He never used honey like I did.

**Soi-Fon's POV**

"How's it look?" Spitting out a small stream of blood, Mugen curled his lips back to expose his tooth. I winced briefly; his canine was cracked and jagged from where my fist had collided with his teeth.

"You'll need some dental work. You shouldn't let your guard down." Mugen's problem was that he was too used to being able to outmaneuver his opponents. Admittedly, this worked excellently for him when armed with swords, but his poor hand-to-hand skills left him constantly open when he had no sword to block with. I had gotten briefly frustrated at his inability to correct this problem, and lashed out inappropriately.

"Well, I think we're done with that then." He said with a grin, the edges his teeth stained red with blood. I, for once, felt awkward as he stood up, groaning loudly. I called out to him as he strolled over to a tree at the edge of the small clearing we trained in.

"Once again I'd like to apologize-" Mugen waved his hand, bending down and picking up the two boken he had brought. Tossing me one, he shrugged.

"Relax, I've been hit harder."

Our training ground was a beautiful scene. Located in front of a pond fed by a waterfall, it was a small clearing surrounded by cherry blossom trees growing so densely one had to approach it from above to enter. The clearing was lush plant life, its soil consistently moist and nutrient rich, and it looked especially beautiful in the light of the night's full moon.

A small breeze blew, and I once more examined Mugen for an opening. While an opponent who didn't know him might assume he was unable to see from his left eye, which was constantly covered by hair, I knew that was somehow untrue. If anything, that was his strong side. So his left side was out.

He had only one sword, but was proficient enough to easily keep me at bay even though he was used to using two.

_How can I take advantage of his style?_ I thought, beginning to slowly circle him. The light breeze blew once more as he pivoted, always facing me.

I flash stepped behind him, my sword raised high above my head, and heard him sigh loudly as he sidestepped and avoided the downward blow. His sword lightly tapped the back of my head.

"Every time, why is _that_ your go-to move?" I flash stepped away once more, but he was after me. His Shunpo was horribly slow. I was able to avoid the first stab he aimed at my stomach, by flash stepping to his side, but to my surprise without turning around he quickly shifted the grip on his sword so that by the time I had finished my flash step it was pressing against my neck.

"If you're going to use Shunpo, use it to put some distance between us. Any good opponent can hear you before you land." I grunted, hopping backwards and tightening my grip on the wooden practice sword. If there was one thing I hated about Mugen, it was the way he treated me. He refused to actually land a blow on me, always slowing the boken at the last second, as though he thought I couldn't take it.

I had asked him to hit me, told him it would help me learn, and he had just laughed.

**You're kind of kinky, Soi-Fon. **The thought of his response made me blush and grind my teeth in embarrassment. I had made him pay for that one, giving him a bruise on his chest he sported next to the one he received for improperly referring to Yoruichi.

**Ken Kasumi POV**

I watched the two of them train, unworried that they might sense me. My powers of concealment were equal with that of my Captain's, far beyond anyone else in the Gotei 13. At this distance they had virtually no chance of detecting me. I watched from my perch a few hundred yards away as my Captain rushed the Third Squad leader I had come to detest.

Soi-Fon looked beautiful, in her own way, as always. While I had come to inform her that I was done with my paperwork, I got caught up watching her train. It wasn't as though I had planned to watch her, but… the way the moonlight hit her skin.

**Mugen's POV**

After a good thirty minutes of sparring the two of us were both worn out. I tossed my boken to the side, where it landed by the tree where we always left them.

"Well, I think we're done. You're definitely getting better." It was true, while she was no Shunsui; she had gotten to the point where I had to work as hard as I could with one sword to beat her. The Second Squad Captain tossed her sword to the side, smiling. It was a rare sight.

"Thank you, Kuriyuke-san." She was very beautiful. Not just in the traditional sense, but in her own way. Slim, fit, strong and yet somehow distinctly feminine. I smiled, lighting a cigarette as she cocked an eyebrow at me.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Hm?"

"You just stared at me, then smiled. What about me do you find funny?" She asked, folding her arms and glaring at me. I shook my head, blowing out smoke.

"Nothing."

"Then why'd you smile?" I thought it over for a second, before deciding that at worst things would get a little awkward if I told the truth.

"I was just thinking that you're really beautiful." Another rare sight, seeing Soi-Fon blush. Much less rare than the smile, I had only seen it once before though and that had not turned out so well for me. Her stance softened and she unfolded her arms, coughing nervously.

"Thank you Kuriyuke..." I cocked an eyebrow.

"That must've been a really good complement to get you to drop the 'san'." She rolled her eyes.

"Don't make me regret it."

**Himura's POV**

"Sorry about that." Renji was not one to be trifled with. I gasped loudly, the wind knocked out of my lungs, and groaned as I stood up, blowing the silver highlights from my new haircut out of my eyes.

"Again." The pink haired lieutenant cocked a tattooed eyebrow. I could understand why. Ever since I had won the battle we made a bet on, he had decided to start taking me seriously, and of all the lieutenants Renji was the closest to being Captain class.

"I think you're do-"

"Unless you assume to know my body's limits better than I do, we are going again." I raised the boken in front of me and Renji shrugged, picking up the practice sword he had dropped to the ground.

"Alright." He charged me and I altered my strategy, focusing on dodging, my smaller size making me more nimble. His style was suited to focus on his power. A lethal style, but one that left many openings when facing a speed oriented style like mine.

Unfortunately, at his level, he was so strong that a single hit against an opponent like me was a death sentence. Even with a boken, I was lucky to remain conscious. Ducking a swipe aimed at my head, I thrust my sword forward, only to have him dodge by spinning out of the way, the wooden practice sword making a loud slapping sound as it smacked my back.

Was I smarter than him, yes. In a straight fight, where I could use kido, Renji would've been forced to use his Bankai to defeat me. But in pure swordsmanship, his superior strength kept me at a disadvantage. While I was certainly faster, the difference was negligible, and the advantage was still his. This was a good thing.

_No pain, no gain._ I reminded myself, gritting my teeth and standing up as Renji stared skeptically.

"Look do you want me to-"

"Again."

"Better do it Renji, this one's volatile." Both of us turned in surprise to see Arata leaning against a cherry blossom tree, smiling. He waved.

"Yo Arata." Renji waved back, I simply remained silent and watched with thinly veiled disinterest as he strolled over to the two of us.

"Matsumoto invited me out drinking. You want to come?" Arata didn't even look my way, not that I minded. The two of us were not friends, however him and Renji were. Renji glanced awkwardly in my direction.

"Do you mind?" I shrugged, tossing him the practice sword and strolling away wordlessly into the Sixth Squad building.

The Sixth Squad was different from all the other squads in at least one major way, their Captain. He was nobility, and as such the squad received nothing but the best. Their training room, for instance, was rumored to be pristine. I decided I would check, strolling down the hallway that was the women's dormitory, I took a right and found myself at the door of the Captain's office instead.

_It's structured differently than my squad as well._ As I was turning away I was stopped by a loud slapping sound from inside the office. I turned just in time to see the door fly open, and a furious looking Rukia Kuchiki storm out without sparing as much as a glance my way as she passed by, her violet eyes ablaze with rage. My gaze then shifted to the Sixth Squad Captain, who stared back at me neutrally, the red palm mark on his cheek enough to let me know exactly what had happened. There was only one issue that could possibly make Rukia, who I knew well enough to know she had immense respect for her brother and family, slap the head of the Kuchiki family.

"Hello Kuchiki-taicho."

"Rikai-fukutaicho. Are you looking for anything?" As my eyes flit around the room, quickly taking in every detail, I noticed several broken objects in the room, and the remnants of a smashed vase at the base of one of the office's wall.

"No. Were you and your sister fighting about Kurosaki?" The noble did not so much as blink at the question, and although his tone did not waver something about the way he strolled back to his desk suggested he had been offended.

"That is none of your business, Rikai-fukutaicho. Please close my door as you leave." I nodded, bowing politely and sliding the door to his office shut, finding myself interested in something for the first time in a long while.

**Guinevere POV**

"This is nice." I remarked to Kyouraku, who nodded and smiled as he tilted his head back, his Adam's apple looking as though it might burst through the skin of his throat.

"The stars are beautiful tonight." Of all the people I had ever met, Kyouraku was without a doubt the cleverest. Behind the drunken, lazy façade he presented was a battle-hardened warrior with a wit as quick as a gunshot.

"Are you ready for tomorrow, Guinevere?" He asked, lying down on his back and continuing to stare at the stars. I shrugged.

"Sure. I suppose." He quietly sipped his sake, pouring it from an arms length away through the air and into his opened mouth.

"Are you?" I inquired after a few seconds of silence. He didn't take an eye off the stars as he answered, momentarily pausing his imbibing.

"Almost every single one of my enemies tomorrow will be a friend of mine. I have never hurt a friend before… I'm not sure if I can bring myself to do it now." I watch the kimono clad Captain close his eyes, keeping them shut, his perpetually unshaven face contorted in an expression of angst far too mild to betray his real feelings.

"I can imagine it. I don't want to do it though." Twirling my necklace around my finger absentmindedly, I watched him silently, letting him continue.

"But, I don't think it'll come to that." He said with a smile that surprised me.

"What?" Opening one eye, he scoffed with sarcastic incredulity at me.

"Urahara Kisuke's a very smart man, you don't think he'll fall for this, do you? Besides, I'm sure the first thing those Aarancar who got away did was go to Karakura. That's what I'd do." He poured another shot into his mouth before continuing.

"And when they got there I'm sure they told Urahara what happened. And he probably told Shinji and Ichigo and all them, and now I'm sure everybody knows. So they'll run, and we can pretend not to know where they are, and it'll all be over." I watched him skeptically, the way he smiled. Leaning back, I stared at the stars with him.

"If that's the case Kenpachi's going to be very disappointed."

**Shuhei's POV**

As I sped at my Captain, who calmly regarded me through red eyes, I noticed she was not nearly as form obsessed as usual. Her sword hung limply by her side, and though she easily deflected every blow I sent her way, she didn't seem as though she was taking me seriously.

It became obvious to me she was not when, in a stroke of pure luck, I actually landed a blow on her. Not much of a blow, a nick to the arm, but still enough to make my eyes widen in surprise. She hopped back, briefly regarding the cut before turning back to me.

"Excellent job Hisagi. That's enough for today." Sheathing her sword, my Captain simply turned away as though nothing had happened, strolling back to her office. I followed her, standing in front of her desk awkwardly. She did her paperwork without looking up at me, even as I spoke to her.

"Captain is there something you want to talk about?" Although my Captain was cold, even to me, I was the closest thing to a friend she had. And if she was distracted enough to let me cut her during a spar, something was _very_ wrong. Her maroon pupils briefly left the paper, and she locked gazes with me, before her red eyes head back down to her paperwork.

"I assume you're worried about me due to my lapse in concentration. Do not be, I was simply distracted at the time. It will not happen again." I shrugged. I had hoped, stupidly, that my Captain might take the opportunity to confide in me. But the silver haired woman before me was as cold and hard as ice.

_Maybe,_ I thought to myself, _I don't want to know what she's thinking._

Turning quickly on my heel, I decided to go visit Matsumoto.

**Matsumoto's POV**

"But Taicho!"

"No buts Matsumoto-fukutaicho. You cannot go out drinking tonight. Tomorrow is far too important." I pouted. I missed the old days, with Toshiro, where I could just wiggle my chest and run while he was busy being embarrassed. No such luck with Saykora, there was only one thing in the entire Court of Pure Souls that could distract my Captain, and Yachiru wasn't here right now.

I padded out of the office, popping in on the cafeteria for a midnight snack.

"Matsumoto-san, what's up?" Turning my head, I smiled and waved at Shuhei, who walked in through the Squad's front door.

"Not much. My Captain won't let me go out tonight." The two of us both took seats opposite a bowl of fruit, which rested in the middle of a two-person table seated in the corner of the room. I reached out for an apple, taking a large bite and sighing.

"She's such a buzz kill. I miss Toshiro." Shuhei nodded solemnly.

"Yeah." The two of us sat in silence before he finally sighed loudly, running a hand through his silky black hair.

"I can't believe this is actually happening. I just saw Rukia on the way over here. She's freaking out." I watched him close his eyes, tip his head back and let out a long sigh.

The only people among us who didn't have a problem with this plan were the new Captains and Lieutenants, who hadn't fought alongside the Vizard or Aarancar. For us though, they were allies, and more importantly friends. While I couldn't be sure of the Captains, I knew I was handling this better than most of the elder generation of lieutenants.

_I suppose I've just become numb._ I thought to myself. The triple trauma of losing Hinamori, Toshiro, and Gin had initially crippled me, but after being burnt by the fire of loss I emerged a harder and stronger person.

I watched Shuhei curiously as he tossed an orange into the air, catching it with the opposite hand and then repeating the action, all the while muttering more to himself than to me.

"This is bullshit." I caught as I zoned in on his words. Nodding, I leaned back and harrumphed, more for show than anything else.

"Yeah. But, orders are orders. Nothing we can do about it." He dropped his orange in surprise, leveling an aghast stare in my direction.

**Shinji POV**

Kensei slammed his fist down on Urahara's table in frustration so hard that the wood cracked down the middle and the floor of the room shook.

"Goddamit! What have we got to do to be accepted by those backstabbing shinigami?" I brooded silently, staring at my broken reflection in the splintered mahogany of the table. The room was quiet.

Ichigo had proposed we fight, which was preposterous. As strong as we were, as formidable of a force as we were, we had no chance against the might of the Gotei 13. Perhaps, if Yamamoto were out of the picture, we could stand our ground.

"We need more people." I muttered.

"Is there anybody else?" Ichigo asked, turning to me. I shook my head.

"No. Unless there's another group of Vizards hanging out somewhere I don't think we're going to have much help. We've got to-"

"Well, there is _one_ place we can turn." Urahara mumbled, tilting his hat forward mysteriously as every pair of eyes in the room turned to him. Ichigo broke the silence eagerly.

"Where? Are there more Aarancar?" Nel shook her head.

"No, we scoured Hueco Mundo during Aizen's time. If there were any Aarancar, we would know." The shopkeeper shook his head, idly twirling his cane between his fingers.

"Now Neliel-san, what makes you think these Aarancar are in Hueco Mundo?"

A few minutes later all of us had gathered in Urahara's underground training area, where he had rolled a large TV screen in front of us and was sorting through a pile of DVD's.

"A few years ago I received a transmission from Hell, which is the first recorded incident of its kind. While the quality is poor, the message is pretty clear."

The screen burst into static as Urahara inserted the DVD, before slowly forming into a coherent picture. My eyes widened in surprise as the background became dark black, punctuated by several figures, twelve in total, all of whom were standing too far away to make out clearly. What was clear, however, was the one figure who stood in front of them all, smiling widely.

"No fucking way." Ichigo gasped.

**Kira POV**

For the first time in his sixteen years as Captain, Mugen Kuriyuke woke me up.

"Oi Kira, get your ass up." He did so by mumbling, and blasting me with a weak kido spell so that I was forcibly thrown out of my bed. I jumped up, not quite aware of what was happening, and extended both palms forward.

"Hado 31: Shot of red fire!" Just as I finished, just too late to take it back, I realized who I was firing at. I watched as, seemingly in slow motion, the speeding maroon ball of spiritual energy raced towards my Captain. He calmly caught it in his hand, holding it steady for a few seconds, the wind generated by its energy blowing his hair against his face and making his cloak flap loudly, before clenching his fist over it with a resounding 'whoomph'.

All of a sudden, the energy disappeared, the only evidence of the kido's existence being the smoke rising from Mugen's hand as he shook it.

"Taicho I apologize, you caught me una-"

"Relax. Just get dressed and hurry up, we actually have something important to do today. Damn that burns, nice kido." Mugen muttered, blowing on his hand and curling and unfurling his fist as he strolled leisurely out of my bedroom.

**Darzu POV**

Almost all of the Gotei 13 was gathered in the court of the Senkai gate, a plain white marble square with two looming pillars in the center, and had separated into their cliques. I was with Arata and several other lieutenants, off in the opposite corner Mugen and Kyouraku were drinking while Nanao chided them, Saykora stood in the middle of the court tickling Yachiru while Kenpachi muttered impatiently, and I could see Byakuya talking to Unohana and Mayuri.

Surprisingly, nobody seemed to be as nervous as they should have. The unspoken consensus among those who did object to the plan was that the Aarancar who escaped had probably warned the Vizards. And those had no objection to the plan didn't seem to care one way or another.

I wasn't sure whether or not to object. I could understand where Central 46 was coming from… these Vizards were too powerful to just have walking around… but at the same time there didn't seem to be any practical reason, besides an unjustified hatred of hollows, to not let them come live in Seretei.

I would follow my orders, no matter what they were.

"This suspense is killing me." Shuhei muttered, scratching the back of his head. I wasn't really paying attention to their conversation, letting their words drift past me lazily as I became absorbed in my own thoughts.

The plan was that several of the lieutenants and a pair of Captains would escort the Urahara's group and the Vizards through a Senkai gate on the Earth, which would transport them to a separate Senkai gate that had been constructed in the most uninhabited area of Rukongai, where one could go hundreds of miles in each direction without seeing a single person. There the rest of the Gotei 13 would be waiting, and we would surprise the Vizards.

_Supposing the escaped Aarancars never made it to Karakura._ I thought wryly. I had a sneaking suspicion that Kuriyuke had let his opponent leave, seeing as he had returned without so much as a scratch on him, but claimed he was overpowered. Nothing I could prove, however.

As Mayuri and Nemu arrived, completing the assembly of the Gotei 13, Yamamoto quietly walked over to Kyouraku and Mugen, saying something to them in a normal voice that I could not hear at my distance of a few hundred yards away. The two of them stood up, Kyouraku put away his sake, and began strolling towards the Senkai gate.

"We need six lieutenants, I don't care which of you." Mugen yelled as the Senkai gate began roaring to life. Like a group of starving animals the lieutenants descended, rushing to beat each other out of the way, surprisingly eager to stand alongside the dual wielding Captains. In the end it was Shuhei, Kira, Arata, Kasumi, Nanao and Matsumoto who made it, while the others were left to wait.

**Mugen's POV**

I whistled leisurely as we strolled, fully confident that Urahara had been warned and the group had been given time to flee, and feeling good that I had helped avoid a tragedy.

Kyouraku knew, he had guessed as much, but of course didn't mind. If anything, he supported what I had done. And for that, I was glad.

I took a long drag as the Senkai gate began roaring into life, bolts of reiatsu based electricity sporadically flying between the two pillars, creating a more and more solid portal to another world. Slowly, a golden rectangle began to form between the two gargantuan marble pillars, basking me in its warm glow. I smiled, turning to Kyouraku.

"Ready?" I asked as the final bolt of electricity crackled into place, completing the portal. He nodded, and the two of us quietly strolled through.

We emerged, as planned, in front of the Urahara Shoten. However, not everything had gone to plan.

"Oh shit." My jaw dropped, the cigarette falling to the ground at my feet, as I beheld the group in front of us. Urahara and Kurosaki stood next to a tall figure in a brown cloak, whose reiatsu was familiar, but I could not place. Behind them were the Vizard, and a great many Aarancar I did not know, as well as the one whom I let go. She waved at me, smiling.

"Hello various ranked officers of the Gotei 13," Urahara began, stepping forward as the last lieutenant exited the Senkai gate, "as you have probably realized by now, we've been doing some recruiting. You may wonder where in Hueco Mundo all these Aarancar were residing, for which I will allow my friend to answer." Next to me, Kyouraku looked even more visibly shaken as the cloaked figure stepped forward. I noticed how several of the Vizards, especially Kurosaki, looked angry as their attention shifted to him.

"Greetin's from Hell," my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head as he pulled back his cloak, revealing his trademark grin, squinted eyes, and white hair.

"my name's Gin Ichimaru, and we'll be providin' backup for you today."

**Kyouraku's POV**

While Mugen restrained Matsumoto, using a concise karate chop to her neck to knock her unconscious, I could do nothing but stare at the ghost before me.

_How is he still alive?_ I wondered as several lieutenants dragged the big breasted blonde back behind the two of us.

"Focus buddy." Mugen whispered in my ear. I nodded, snapping out of my dream and assessing the situation.

It wasn't good. We were outnumbered ten to one, not including the lieutenants on our side, and a good portion of their fighters were Captain level. I concluded, masterfully, that if they decided to attack us we were doomed.

"You can relax, we're not going to attack you." One of the Aarancar, a green haired woman of incredible beauty, walked over to us and stood within arms' reach.

"Glad to see you're doing well Nel, but I was kind of under the impression you would… run." She shook her head, smiling widely.

"Afraid not. This is our warning to you. In thirty days, we _will_ be coming to Seretei, where we belong. Either you accept us, or you fight us, but one way or the other we'll be there." The two of us looked at each other, silently debating, until I turned back to her and nodded.

"We will relay your message." She nodded, beginning to turn around before snapping her fingers in recognition and turning back to the Captain next to me.

"By the way, what's your name?" Mugen, who was busy lighting a cigarette, turned to her in surprise.

"Me? Mugen. But you can call me sexy, or Mugen. Either one's good." She laughed, walking backwards and smiling at him.

"See you in thirty days Mugen."

**Nel's POV**

"I don't like this." One of the Vizard, a tall muscled man by the name of Kensei, muttered as he stared across the large training ground that had been converted to a makeshift bedroom, to where the Aarancar from Hell had gathered. Shinji, Ichigo, Urahara and Gin were upstairs. I had been invited, but declined. I was no strategist, simply a warrior.

The Vizards and I, along with two of Urahara's close friends whom I had yet to introduce myself to, sat on one end of the spacious underground training area he used. On the other end were the eleven Aarancar that Gin had brought with him. They didn't seem too threatening to me.

"What's the problem, they're just Aarancar?" I asked Kensei, who laughed loudly.

"Nel, there's two places a Hollow can go when they die. Either they get reincarnated, or their spirit was so evil, so purely malevolent, that they go to Hell. Each one of those Aarancar over there was a murderer, thief, rapist, or did something so horrible they didn't even deserve another chance at life. We shouldn't be fighting alongside them." Next to him, a young looking girl with two blonde pigtails scoffed.

"That's ridiculous, don't be some damn judgmental, I'm going over there to meet them." As she hopped off the rock she was sitting on, I fell into line next to her. While some might have negative impressions of someone based on where they were from, I did not feel the same way. At the very least, before I started to hate my allies, I would get to know them.

If the group saw us coming, or was worried about it, they did not show it. In fact, out of the eleven Aarancar present, only one saw fit to come speak to us. She separated herself from the closely huddled group, strolling over with a warm smile and extending her hand.

"Hello, my name is Seira Reyes, but you can call me Seira. I am second in command of Gin-sama's Espada." She was of average height, a little bit over five and a half feet, and had long red emerald hair that spilled down her back. Her uniform was slightly too racy for my taste, showing off a fair amount of her pale cleavage and her midriff, including the small hollow hole present where her belly button should have been.

"My name is Neliel Tu Oderschvank, the ex- Tercera of Aizen's Espada. You can call me Nel." Seira inclined her head respectfully, her green eyes flitting over to gaze at the blonde girl next to me, and hesitated for a second before extending her hand hesitantly.

"Hello, what's your name?" Hiyori grasped her hand, shaking it forcefully, which didn't seem to perturb the Aarancar in the slightest.

"I'm Hiyori, ex-Lieutenant of the Twelfth Squad. Call me Hiyori. Why aren't any of your friends coming to meet us?" Seira shrugged, looking over her shoulder. A couple of the Aarancar were staring at us, and not so much as one of them flinched or looked away upon being caught in the act.

"They don't trust Shinigami very much, except Gin-sama." I watched them out of the corner of my eye, for some reason feeling very wary.

"Hm. Interesting." Seira nodded, putting her hands on her hips and sighing.

"But to the important stuff, where are the men?"

**Yoruichi's POV**

"Now that we've declared war, control of the Gotei 13 will be handed to Yamamoto instead of Central 46." Urahara explained, twirling his cane in between his fingers.

I felt excessively uncomfortable; sitting next to the man I had once seen murdered, who was somehow still alive. The fact that we had to ally with Aarancar from Hell did not bother me nearly as much as everyone else, but the fact that we had to work with a malicious soul like Ichimaru made my blood boil. However, it was an unfortunate reality that without their backup the Gotei 13 would slaughter us.

Ichigo had been so perturbed he had left, saying he would not speak to the slanty-eyed man.

"What do ya think he's goin' to do, Urahara-san?" Even Kisuke, who I admired for staying consistently level headed, seemed to be put on edge by the man's presence. He coughed lightly before shrugging.

"I would guess that he will wait for us, stage a trap. Who knows? As smart as I am, he has over a thousand years of experience with being attacked. We should assume he will anticipate us." Urahara began, standing up and pacing back and forth.

"Our only advantage is that he has no idea of the power of your Espada, having never seen them fight before. Are they as strong as the last Espada?" Gin shrugged, leaning back on his hands and blowing his hair out of his eyes.

"Well, that's tough to say Urahara-san. I'd say that my top couple Espada could take down a Captain or two, but the lower ranked ones would be better off against the lieutenants." Urahara nodded.

"Well that's fine, almost everyone else here is Captain level, which means we have more than enough fighters. The only problem I can foresee is Yamamoto, the only person we have who's even close to strong enough to fight on his level is Ichigo, and I doubt even he could last long against Ryujin Jakka." I pursed my lips, thinking, but Yamamoto seemed to be an unconquerable obstacle.

"Not to mention the Gotei 13 is now filled with new Captains and Lieutenants whom we have no idea about, and really the only ones who were left were the ones strong enough to survive Aizen. So far as our opponents go, we're looking at the cream of the crop with an unknown spice mixed in for effect." I explained, leaning back on my forearms and sighing loudly. Urahara brooded, Gin and I watched him quietly for a bit until finally he stood up, smiling.

"What we need is information, and I know just where to go."

**Kira's POV**

The assembly hall had been silent for over five minutes, after Kyouraku had explained the situation to Yamamoto, as the assembled Captains and lieutenants waited for his response. His expression, as usual, was unreadable, but I got the sense that his mind was in overdrive.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, he spoke.

"With this declaration of war upon us, the power to command the Gotei 13 has now been given to me, as the laws of Central 46 dictate." Standing up, he strode down from his throne, hobbling and leaning on his cane for support.

"While I have been a supporter of Vizard and Aarancar integration from the beginning, we cannot allow traitors like Gin Ichimaru, or malicious souls from Hell, to soil the Court of Pure Souls." Pausing for a second, as if to let the words sink in, he stared directly ahead.

"Therefore it is my decision that we extend an invitation for our enemy to send over an ambassador, to peacefully negotiate with us. Captains Kyouraku and Kuriyuke will travel, _alone_, to the Urahara Shoten to deliver this message tomorrow. You are all dismissed."

I followed my Captain outside, jogging to keep up with him as he strode purposefully back to the squad building, practically ignoring me.

"Taicho what did you mean when you said you hoped the Aarancar would run?" I asked, a question my Captain had been dodging since we returned from the failed mission at the Shoten. Foregoing the elaborate semantics he had used before to dodge the question, this time he simply ignored me, pretending I didn't exist. But I was not one to be spurned so easily. I jogged in front of him, planting a hand on his chest and giving him a stern look.

Bad idea. One kick to my crotch later I was down on the ground and he was walking by me without so much as a second thought.

"That was a bad call." A rough, distinctly feminine voice caught my attention and I looked up from my spot on the cobblestone to see a pale skinned lieutenant staring down at me with thinly veiled contempt.

"Hello Himura." I stood up slowly, groaning in pain, and glanced over my shoulder to see that Mugen had disappeared.

"I heard from Kasumi." She explained, folding her arms over her chest and leveling her trademark bored stare in my direction.

What was astounding about Himura was that she had the power of a fifth seat at best. However, during bouts with several lieutenants she had emerged as the victor, due to her incredible intellect and complete understanding of how to fight. She had almost defeated me during a competitive spar, although I had been able to force my way out of a binding spell at the last second and emerged the victor.

"Don't make assumptions without knowing what happened, Himura. You know how rumors spread." The shorthaired lieutenant's lips curved upwards slightly, a hollow shell of a smile that showed she had probably anticipated I would react the way I had.

While my Captain was not my favorite person in the Gotei 13, he had saved my life once, and as such I vowed to follow him with unwavering loyalty. If there were ever a point where to stand behind him would be certain death, I would not budge.

"You seem somewhat sensitive Kira. Although, if I'm right, this would be the third traitorous Captain in a row you would've pledged your loyalty to… not the best track record." Her smile widened in amusement at her own comment, and without waiting for a response she turned on her heel, stalking off in the opposite direction.

**Soi-Fon's POV**

The wooden door to his office shattered under my fist, creating a hole large enough for me to step through. I could've easily opened it, but I was too angry to do anything practical.

Kira sat at his Captain's desk, looking at me with an emotion that seemed to be a mixture between shock and fear. I had just three words.

"Where is he?" As soon as the answer had left Kira's mouth I was off, bursting out the back door and flash stepping faster than any other Captain in the Gotei 13 could have to the place I had expected he would be this whole time. Our training ground.

**Ken Kasumi's POV**

Soi-Fon had left in a rage as soon as I had informed her what had happened. The gossip was spreading throughout the Gotei 13 like wildfire, due to the fact that I had informed Matsumoto what happened while she was unconscious as soon as she woke. While the full-formed woman was certainly shaken, I had the suspicion that nothing in the world could traumatize the Tenth Squad lieutenant enough to get her to stop gossiping.

I almost felt guilty for helping to spread the gossip about Kuriyuke. Almost being the key word. The man was vile, and he treated Soi-Fon with absolutely no dignity. He was bad for her, and if need be I was willing to sacrifice him for her sake.

**Mugen's POV**

I was never the type to slowly approach a cold body of water. It made much more sense to me to just jump in, although there was always that second in the air, the apprehensive moment where you couldn't help but wonder if you had made the right choice. And usually, it was followed by initial disappointment as the cold of the water hit you, making your life infinitely more uncomfortable.

But in the end it was always worth it, as you got used to the temperature. Now, as I reclined against a large stone on the edge of the pond, staring at the stars, I was beginning to enter the phase where I could enjoy the consequences of my actions.

Or so I thought. I was lucky my battle honed instincts were enough to warn me, based on the sound of Shunpo, to dodge. Because had I not, Soi-Fon's fist might've crushed my skull. It certainly crushed the rock I was leaning on.

"What did you do?"

**Soi-Fon's POV**

"You're going to have to be more specific. I breathed," Mugen ducked one of my punches, and somehow managed to dodge another three more blows I sent his way before flash stepping backwards to put some distance between us. He was moving faster than I'd ever seen him move in a spar.

"I just took a swim, earlier I ate." I was after him again, for his sarcasm. Surprisingly though, I could not lay a finger on him. He ducked and dodged every single blow, which in turn got me more riled up, until I was putting one hundred percent effort into every punch. Still he dodged.

Finally I managed to land a blow on him, just clipping his jaw, but with the force behind a punch like mine it was enough to knock him to the ground.

"You let that Aarancar go didn't you?" I said, planting a foot on his chest. He stared up at me calmly, rubbing his jaw.

"I feel like you should be more impressed with how well I was doing just a second ago. Apparently I fight a lot better when I think I'm going to die." I pressed down on his chest until he began to wheeze, his expression unchanging.

"How could you do that? You can't just put yourself in danger Kuriyuke!" He cocked an eyebrow.

"Not that I did let the Aarancar go, but I think I have the right to put myself in as much danger as I want."

**Ken Kasumi POV**

A lot of people had diaries. Soi-Fon was one of these people. Being the Captain of the Second Squad was a stressful job, and it probably served her well to write down her thoughts. One day, she had accidentally left it out on the floor near my desk. I had returned it to her, but ever since I would occasionally sneak a peak.

I leafed through to the most recent entry, which was from the day before.

"Dear diary. Today was a mostly normal day. I think Mugen and I are becoming friends, and I have stopped using honorifics with him. He blew this out of proportion, which is hardly surprising." Not the most disturbing thing I had ever read. And yet I was disturbed, perturbed, and enraged. Not by a single word that had been written, not by a single letter, but by a small design in the corner of the page that set this particular entry apart from every other entry I had read.

In the upper corner of the page, about the size of a penny, was a small absentminded scribble. In the shape of a heart.

**Mugen's POV**

"You don't have the right to put yourself in danger!" Soi-Fon yelled, easing up the pressure on my chest. I scoffed.

"Why not?"

"Because I care about what happens to you!" She seemed more surprised at what she had said than I was, frowning and furrowing her brow at her own comment. I took advantage of her momentary lapse in concentration to wriggle my way out from under her foot, springing to my feet and shaking my hair out while keeping my hand over my left eye so that the hair stayed plastered in front of it.

She stared at me; her confident glare leveled my way as I let my hands fall to my sides.

"I'm glad you care about me, but you weren't there." Taking a few steps forward, I stopped close to her, staring down into her defiant blue eyes and whispering.

"You didn't see who I was fighting. Neliel Tu Oderschvank." I was glad to see the name held some recognition as her eyes widened.

"Yeah. The woman who saved Kurosaki Ichigo's life. Without her, we would've lost the war. I couldn't kill her." The Second Squad Captain resumed her glaring, folding her arms across her chest defensively.

"You shouldn't have disobeyed orders." I shrugged.

"Who said I did? I was simply surprised that, after managing to escape me, she didn't choose to run." Soi-Fon shook her head.

"You just said you couldn't kill her."

"Yeah, I couldn't… she was really strong."

She rolled her eyes at me, and without thinking I reached out a hand, placing it on her arm. Her eyes swiveled up to mine and I smiled reassuringly.

"I'm glad to hear you care though. I really am." It was too dark out to be sure, but I thought I saw her cheeks go red. What I did see for sure was her eyes flit down to my lips for a brief second before she made eye contact with me again, as though she expected me to kiss her.

I leaned in, slowly, waiting for her to turn her head away or push me back, but she didn't move except to tilt her head upwards. Finally, when I was so close I could feel her breath on my lips and her shaking fingers burying themselves in my hair,

"Soi-Fon taicho!" I groaned in pain as her free hand planted itself in my stomach, a blast of reiatsu shoving me so hard that I flew back ten feet before my back managed to break my fall. I was too disoriented to speak, but I watched as from the opposite side of the field Soi-Fon's lieutenant strode out from the woods, apparently unaware of what had just happened.

"What is it Kasumi-fukutaicho?" She barked harshly, apparently almost as angry as I was.

"What, I just thought you might need help-" She cut him off, planting her hands on her hips and glaring in his direction as I stood up.

"Why would I need help during a spar? And haven't I told you not to interrupt my training unless it is absolutely necessary?" My stomach hurt quite a bit, as I had not been ready for the attack, and I was still catching my breath. I waved in Ken's direction, attempting to speak, but was having too much trouble breathing to force out a word. What came out was an odd combination between a squeak and my voice cracking.

The two of them stared at me for a second before Soi-Fon turned back to her lieutenant, her hands on her hips.

"I just thought, the way you left, that you were going to fight… never mind. I apologize for interrupting your training, taicho." Ken flash stepped away, leaving Soi-Fon and me alone once more. She turned around, staring at me for a few seconds before flash stepping away too fast for me to follow, leaving me confused.

**Don's POV**

I watched from my perch atop a small boulder, separated from my fellow Espada, as a female Aarancar with green hair joined a young looking Vizard in chatting with Seira.

I had nothing against the Aarancar, or the Vizards (unlike my companions) but I was simply not a social person. Not because I didn't enjoy the company of other people, but because I rarely had anything I felt needed to be said. As such, people tended to think I was ignoring them, and chose to avoid me. I didn't mind, so long as when something needed to be said they listened.

A second Aarancar, a blonde haired woman who I sensed was marginally stronger than her green haired companion, caught my eye from across the room. She was watching, with astounding yellow eyes, as several of my companions dislodged themselves from the clique they had formed and joined Seira.

Muneca, the astoundingly young sociopath who was our 8th in command, was the first to join. She hopped next to Seira, who kept a cautionary grip on Muneca's shoulder, and extended a hand towards the green haired Aarancar.

Muneca was an odd case. I had been present when she first joined our ranks, by killing the previous 8th in command. Nobody knew where she had come from, she brought no allies like most of the others had, and seemed to absolutely love violence. I remembered the most disturbing part of her battle had been when she was cut, and became so distracted with her own blood that the previous 8th had almost gotten away.

"Not quite though…" I muttered to myself.

When I looked back at the blonde who had caught me earlier, she met my gaze. I tried to remain calm, as usual, but something in her gaze unnerved me in ways I had never felt before, a shiver running down my spine. In terms of pure strength I had the advantage over her, I could sense that much, but it was something else… something entirely new in the steely calm that lay beneath her yellow pupils.

**Anna-Anna's POV**

I smirked as I followed Don's gaze. He was looking unusually nervous engaged in a staring match with the woman Neliel had explained was known as 'Harribel'. To his credit, his nervousness did not stop him from maintaining eye contact unfailingly, not even so much as a blink. I had the impression they would be at it for hours before one would fold and look away.

Neliel seemed nice. Slightly overbearing, and certainly insecure about whether people viewed her as intelligent, as I could tell by her unnecessarily complicated vocabulary, but still nice. And _strong_. Based on reiatsu alone she could've easily ranked fourth in command, and her friend Harribel could challenged Don for third… although she would probably lose.

"eh…Anna-Anna?" I was so absorbed observing Don and Harribel that I completely tuned out the conversation around me. I turned back to Muneca, who had spoken up.

"What?"

"Do you think shinigami blood tastes different?" I sighed, rolling my eyes. Of all the people I had ever met, Muneca was the only one who was a mystery to me. Usually sociopaths had issues due to abusive parents. But I had questioned her about her past and, like most Aarancar, she never had a mother or father figure in her life. She was an absolute mystery.

"Probably Muneca, blood, like all matter in our bodies, is made up of reiatsu. Shinigami have different reiatsu, so it's no stretch to suggest that their blood would be different and as such taste different." The little girl's eyes went as wide as plates and she smiled.

"Wow, thanks Anna-Anna, you're really smart." I smiled back at her.

"Thank you Muneca, that's very polite of you to say."

**Kyouraku's POV**

As he did every time he was troubled, Mugen sought me out. The difference was this time he was shirtless and soaking wet, which unfortunately for me did not stop him from stomping into my office and falling unceremoniously into one of my lounge chairs so loudly that he woke up Nanao, who had fallen asleep at her desk. I had been letting her nap.

"Hey Nanao." He said, waving at her briefly before turning his attention to me.

"I need to get drunk."

Needless to say, I acquiesced to his request, and in less than an hour we were on the rooftop of my squad building and had accomplished his goal.

"So what troubles you my friend." Kuriyuke was no lightweight, but compared to me he was nothing. He had barely finished his second jug of Sake and was already stumbling drunk, almost falling off the rooftop several times. He came to a halt, slowly turning to face me, a dumb grin plastered on his face.

"So check this out. I'm at that pond where Soi-Fon and I train, right. Are you … follow… following me?" I nodded and he continued.

"So check this out. I'm at that pond where Soi-Fon and I train, and she attacks me out of nowhere! She's all mad that I might've let that Aarancar go, which I may or may not have definitely done. So after she punches me in the face, she says she's mad, not because I broke the rules, but because she cares about me." I nodded, it was not surprising. While it was certainly a little emotional for Soi-Fon, I had seen the two of them becoming friends. It was no stretch to my imagination that she might care about his safety.

"So I go up to her and she does that thing girls do when they want you to kiss them, where they look at your lips for like a second. So I lean in for the kiss." I sat up in surprise, my hat falling off my head, and he continued.

"And she's going with it, she's got her hand in my hair, but right as we're about to kiss her lieutenant bursts onto the scene and she pushes me back!" My jaw dropped.

"Oh no."

"Oh yes! And then she's pissed at him, obviously, for ruining our romantic moment. So she yells at him and he leaves, and I get up to go back over to… kiss her, I'm not too sure, but she leaves too! What the fuck?" He either fell, or suddenly decided to sit, but either way he seemed to feel no pain. Burying his head in his palms, he groaned loudly.

"God I'm confused. I bet Aarancar women are simpler."

**Nel's POV**

"Ha-choo!" Out of nowhere I sneezed.

**Kyouraku's POV**

"You didn't go after her?" I asked, surprised at my friend's ignorance. He cocked an eyebrow, his head swerving back and forth drunkenly.

"What? No. Should I?" I nodded and he stared at me, his mouth wide open.

"I'm nodding, Mugen." He grinned.

"Everything's really blurry right now, I couldn't see. Okay then, I'm going after her." Before I could say another sentence, a sentence I would've used to ask him to wait until he was sober, he had flash stepped off with surprising grace. I watched him move; amazed that he never seemed to fall down. He would teeter, on the absolute edge of his balance, and then somehow keep himself upright before flash stepping again. I sighed, smiling and shaking my head as I stood up to stop him.

"Ah, to be young and in love."

**Soi-Fon's POV**

_Dear Diary, _

That was all I had. How to put this night into words… it was too complicated. I sighed, deciding I would go with the facts and keep it at that.

_Dear Diary,_

_ Today was not normal. During a mission to lure Urahara's group and the hollow hybrids back to Seretei so they could be assassinated with minimal casualties, Kuriyuke said some things that have led many to believe he purposefully allowed the Aarancar to leave. He could face punishment, but has a decent enough excuse to get away with it. More importantly, he tried to kiss me._

My pencil stopped there, lingering on the period as I stared, wide eyed, at what I had written. He tried to kiss me. And I would've let him…

Almost involuntarily, my hand went to my lips, where I could almost taste his breath. I shuddered, slamming the book shut and stuffing it into the top drawer of my desk, as if I could also stuff away the events of the night.

"Taicho, I'm going to bed." I looked up in surprise; having totally forgotten my lieutenant was doing paperwork at our joint desk, facing me. I nodded, absentminded.

"Uh huh. Good job Kasumi." He stood up, taking a few steps out of the office, before turning around and staring at me as though he had something to say. I waited patiently, until he spat it out.

"Do you… uh… never mind." I shrugged, getting back to my work as he left the room. Although, I was so unfocused I ended up leaning back in my chair, twirling my pencil absentmindedly betwixt my fingers and watching the blades of the ceiling fan spin.

**Mugen's POV**

I woke up, surprisingly not hung over, to the feeling of someone lightly shaking me by my shoulders.

"Taicho you've got to get up." I groaned when I realized it was not, as I had hoped, Soi-Fon. Instead it was the much less female, much less attractive, Kira. He continued to shake me, repeating 'Taicho, you've got to get up' like a mantra, until finally I sat up quickly, slapping his hands off my shoulders.

"Alright, alright! I'm up. God you're persistent." He nodded, standing up and pointing to my bedside table to reveal my two Zanpakuto stacked neatly atop a folded pair of robes and my Captain's cloak.

"I had to get a new pair of pants for you, since the other ones were soaking from when Kyouraku-taicho was chasing you through that river." I frowned, scratching my head.

"What? When did that happen?" Kira continued as if I had never interrupted.

"Your Captain's cloak was ruined from when you sparred with Kenpachi-taicho, so you were billed for a new one." my eyes bulged in surprise. The one thing I had sworn never to do was fight Kenpachi. "Fortunately Unohana-taicho arrived before you or Kenpachi-taicho could do any serious harm to Ikkaku-san, and she has agreed to keep the incident from last night confidential, as long as you agree to never grab her indecently again." I thought my jaw might drop down to my legs as I sat up, rubbing my head.

"Wow, all that happened? How am I not hung over?" Kira smiled, pointing at my left shoulder.

"Unohana-taicho injected you with a powerful sedative. She said by the time it wares off, so long as you drink plenty of water and eat meals high in fruit, you won't be hung over any more… and she asked me to stress that, for your own safety, you should never grab her indecently again." Kira explained, walking backwards out of the room and shutting the door in front of himself before I could respond. I stood up, strolling into my bathroom and muttering to myself.

"How could I be that drunk and not puke- oh, there it is." Flushing my toilet, I shook my head and stepped into my shower.

**Kyouraku's POV**

"Did you hear someone hacked the 12th Squad?" I asked Mugen as the two of us walked through the dark tunnel between worlds. He shook his head, his visible eyebrow shooting up in surprise.

"Really? I thought Mayuri was a pretty smart guy, who could hack... Ahh, Urahara." I shrugged.

"That's what they think." The light at the end of the tunnel, which ironically represented dead souls returning to the real world, came into view far in the distance and I sighed. Although I was not one to get nervous, I knew that should they decide to decline our offer, this would be the perfect opportunity for them to take out two Captain level fighters from the opposing side. And as strong as the two of us were, the idea that we could even escape a battle while so heavily outnumbered was… ridiculous.

As the two of us began to near the light, the reiatsu in the air began thickening to the point where I was glad we had not brought any lieutenants. While it was obvious each member assembled was suppressing his or her reiatsu, the presence of so many Captain and lieutenant class individuals even leaking a fraction of their spiritual energy was more than most could bare. Fortunately, Mugen and I had no problems.

The two of us both paused a step away from the light, until he sighed a large cloud of smoke and stepped through into the real world. I instantly followed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note**

After this chapter I'll be using a different format, still keeping with the first person POV but having each chapter be five days long and told from the perspectives of different cliques. Once each clique has told the first five days, the cycle will repeat with the next five days, and so on.

**Don's POV**

As the two Captains stepped out into the real world, it seemed every single one of us simultaneously let out a relieved sigh. There had been no word sent to Urahara-san ahead of time that there would be anyone arriving from Seretei, and we had assumed from the Senkai gate that the Gotei 13 was attacking. But there was no way they would send only two Captains to battle all of us.

"We are here in peace, as messengers." The one wearing a pink kimono stated loudly. I recognized the two of them as the same Captains who I had seen earlier. Neliel claimed that the one who smoked had spared her life, which was what had kept me from attacking the pair of them the first time we met.

Urahara-san, Gin-sama, Neliel and the orange haired boy of immense reiatsu separated themselves from the group we had formed, as our de-facto leaders, and crossed the dusty front yard to the two Captains.

**Nel's POV**

I was glad to see Mugen again, being that he was the one Captain of the Gotei 13 I knew I could trust. The four of us approached the two Captains, and I immediately held out my hand, which he shook lightly.

"Hello Mugen, nice to see you." He nodded.

"Nice to be seen… by you… that sounded a lot wittier in my head." I smiled, turning to the other Captain and shaking his hand as well.

"Hello, Neliel-san I presume. I'm Shunsui Kyouraku, Captain of the Eighth Squad." I inclined my head politely, stepping back so the two of them could shake hands with the other three representatives.

Mugen stepped forward, shaking hands with Urahara first.

"Kisuke Urahara? I'm Mugen Kuriyuke, Captain of the Third Squad." Gin chuckled.

"Oh it's my replacement. How's Kira doin'?" Mugen turned to Gin, staring at him for a second before completely ignoring him and turning to Ichigo. Gin simply smiled, his face as unreadable as always.

After the introductions, during which Gin was pointedly ignored by both Captains, the four of us went inside to Urahara's tea room. As we sat down, Mugen spoke first to Urahara.

"So Urahara-san, all the buzz in Seretei right now is that you hacked the Twelfth Squad. I'm impressed, Kurotsuchi's a smart… thing." Urahara's fan snapped open, covering his face so that his expression was unreadable.

"Well I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, Kuriyuke-taicho." Mugen chuckled, leaning back on his arms as I spoke up.

"What message are you two delivering?" I asked politely, sipping my tea. Kyouraku spoke up.

"As I'm sure you all know by now, since you have actively declared war on the Gotei 13, control of Seretei has been given to Yama-jii. He has been a supporter of the integration movement since the beginning, but is troubled by the addition of… your most recent allies." Kyouraku paused to send a quick look in Gin's direction before continuing.

"While usually he would follow Central 46 without a second thought, your ranks have grown to a size that the risk of battling you is no longer worth the reward. So, in order to avoid bloodshed, he has asked that one of your group come to Seretei, to act as an ambassador so that we can resolve this conflict peacefully." The kimono clad Captain explained. Mugen turned to his partner.

"We should probably step outside, give them time to talk it over." Kyouraku nodded, and the two stood up and strolled out without another word. As soon as they had shut the door Ichigo spoke up.

"I'll do it. I really need to see Rukia anyways." I put a calming hand on the orange haired shinigami's shoulder as Urahara calmly let him down.

"No Kurosaki-san, as much as your reputation would certainly be a boost, we need someone whose strengths lie in more of the… intellectual area. I myself would go, but I have duties at the Shoten. Ichimaru-san's reputation alone is enough of a reason to immediately disqualify him, which leaves really only one option." My eyebrows shot up in surprise as the three pairs of eyes in the room turned to me.

**Harribel's POV**

I sat on the front porch of the Shoten with Don, watching the stars quietly. Upon meeting the two of us had quickly found a common ground in our enjoyment of silence, our hatred of superficial speech, and since then something that I imagined would be considered a friendship had been blossoming.

The door to the Shoten was left open, so the night breeze could flow in, and had my ability to sense reiatsu not been so honed I might never have sensed one of the Captains walking outside. He seemed to almost glide over the ground, and his feet made no sound as he walked.

It was the Captain who had spared Nel-sama, an unkempt man with shaggy brown hair, which seemed to be permanently parted over only one eye. He turned my way, muttering a muffled hello to the two of us before removing a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it with a ball of reiatsu as he walked to the opposite side of the porch. I could sense his friend was still inside.

I stood up from the wicker bench Don and I had sat on, strolling over to the Captain, who watched me calmly. Stopping a few feet away, I bowed lightly.

"Shinigami, thank you for sparing Nel-sama's life." He stared at me for a few seconds, I could tell he was analyzing me, reading into every action and word I spoke. Finally, he responded.

"You're stronger than she is, aren't you?" I nodded and he frowned in confusion.

"So why'd you put her in charge?" I decided after a few seconds of mental debate that he deserved an honest answer.

"Because she is a great woman, and more of a leader than I." His frown turned into a smile.

"I could tell… the great woman part, that is. Well… thanks for the recognition and all, you can go back to your boyfriend now." Not bothering to correct him, I turned on my heel and strode back to the bench, sitting next to Don. He turned to me, his silver and black eyes meeting mine with no hesitation. The reason I first spoke to him was to congratulate him on being the second person to ever force me to break eye contact with someone, the first having been Aizen.

"What did you say to him?"

"I thanked him for saving Nel-sama's life." I explained matter of factly. He nodded, and the two of us resumed staring at the stars.

**Kurugari's POV**

Many words had been used to describe me over the years, cold, calculating, boring even… but sentimental, irrational, or emotional, never. So I was perplexed when I found myself feeling… odd. Long ago I had lost the ability to place my emotions, and I did not know what I was feeling.

It was a clenching feeling in the pit of my stomach. It seemed to make everything less exciting, less vivid, and less important. It was affecting all the areas of my life. My paperwork was piling up, I was unable to focus, I was losing the motivation I needed for my rigorous training regimen, and I found myself often simply staring outside, not sure what I was looking for. My lieutenant knew something was wrong, and tried in his own way to help, but it was useless.

I reflected upon my feelings, attempting to identify them, as I stared up at the sky. It was beginning to snow, my favorite time of the year, and I was picking individual flakes out as they fell from the sky and watching them slowly descend down to earth.

"Hello Taicho." I turned to see Shuhei approaching from inside my office. I nodded absentmindedly at him before returning to watching the snowflakes.

"It's snowing, huh?" I nodded.

"An astute observation." I wondered why he chose to continue wearing his sleeveless version of the uniform in the cold, but he did not shiver or shake, and showed no sign of being chilled, so I did not bother with the question.

There was a long time of silence, which I relished, before he spoke once more. Turning to face me, he sighed loudly and surprised me by putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Taicho. I know something's wrong. You're not doing your paperwork, you're getting sloppy in our spars… you can talk to me." I stared at his hand, astonished, before making eye contact with him. Many flinched at the sight of my eyes, even the most polite of nobles had subconsciously expressed angst at the color of my pupils, but Shuhei had never seemed to find anything odd with them.

What it was that made me decide to confide in him, I don't know.

"I'm not sure what's wrong Shuhei. I don't feel… calm. I feel as though I am troubled, but by what, I do not know." I admitted, surprising my lieutenant. He kept his hand on my shoulder, a small beacon of warmth in the otherwise cold world, and maintained eye contact. His pupils were odd too, I realized. I had never noticed it, but they seemed to be simply black, with no surrounding color to his iris.

"When did it start?"

The two of us ended up talking for a long while, although it was more of me bearing my soul to him. I informed him that I wasn't familiar with emotions, and he told me I sounded sad. I wasn't used to such contact with another person.

**Mugen POV**

The associated leaders in the Shoten spent over an hour debating on who should be their representative before finally reaching a decision. By that time Kyouraku and I had moved to the roof of the shop, and were drinking leisurely. I was careful not to get too buzzed.

Ironically, it was the buzz of sonido that first alerted me they were finished meeting. I heard the quick buzz, followed by the light padding of feet, and tilted my head back just in time to see Neliel walk past me to stand in front of us, her smooth legs bare in the short skirt she wore.

"I will be the ambassador." I hopped up, clapping my hands together happily.

"Great, then-" Nel held up her finger, interrupting me with a smile.

"On one condition. I want you both to swear that, should negotiations go sour, I will be allowed to leave Seretei untouched and return here." She said seriously, her smile contrasting with her tone. I turned to Kyouraku, who nodded as he stood up, brushing himself off.

"Sounds good to us." I explained.

Nel took a step towards me, extending a friendly hand, which I shook politely.

"Nice to meet you, ambassador Oderschvank." Her smile grew slightly wider, and a lot less forced. A shiver ran down my spine as my gaze met with her half lidded cerulean pupils.

"I look forward to getting to know you, Mugen."

**Soi-Fon's POV**

I enjoyed sparring with my lieutenant. There were few people in all of the Gotei 13 who could keep up with me in hand-to-hand combat; my lieutenant was one of them. Yamamoto and, surprisingly, Unohana were the only other two Captains I knew of who could pose a challenge to me without their weapons. Yoruichi-dono could as well, but she was not present.

Kasumi had nowhere near the power behind his punches that even the weakest Captain would, but his speed rivaled that of mine. The two of us darted around through the air, spinning around each other and searching for an opening before briefly colliding in a flurry of blows, returning to the searching once our encounter was over. I, of course, held back my power but was able to fully utilize my speed.

"You're open." I whispered smugly as, at one point, he dropped his guard momentarily during an encounter. His eyes widened in anticipation as I flung my fist into his stomach, sending him rocketing down to the earth. He landed and skidded for a couple of feet on the ground before flipping back to his feet. By that time, however, I was already behind him. I tapped the back of his head, smiling, and he sighed loudly, running a hand through his dark brown hair and grinning as he turned to speak to me.

"Ah, good one Taicho." I nodded, patting him on the shoulder.

"You're improving Kasumi-fukutaicho. Maybe one of these days you'll actually beat me." He rolled his dark brown eyes, smiling widely.

"I doubt it. I can tell you're holding back you know."

The two of us began walking back to the squad building, which was less than a mile away.

"Of course I am. But only in strength, in speed you're almost at my level. It's very impressive." My lieutenant put his hands behind his head as we walked, twisting his head so that the bones in his neck popped.

"You think I could ever be Captain, Taicho?" I nodded, almost laughing. If any lieutenant was ready to fight on a Captain level, besides Renji, it would be Ken. He was one of the least experienced lieutenants, but already he was faster than most Captains, experienced in kido, and was unparalleled in his hand-to-hand abilities.

"Surely. Keep working hard and it won't be long." His smile grew slightly wider.

"I bet I could beat Kuriyuke-taicho." I rolled my eyes. While I had no clue as to why, my lieutenant's hatred for Kuriyuke seemed to be consistently growing.

"Maybe you should challenge him for Captaincy." I said sarcastically. Kasumi nodded.

"Maybe I will." I turned to him, cocking an eyebrow when I realized he had taken what I said seriously. I stopped, folding my arms and leveling a stare at him when he turned to face me.

"Kasumi-fukutaicho, you're very strong. Of all the lieutenants I would pick you to be Captain, if I had to pick one right now. But make no mistake, as you are now you could not defeat even the weakest Captain of the Gotei 13, let alone Kuriyuke." He seemed somewhat offended, but simply bit his tongue and nodded.

"Hai, Taicho. Of course not."

**Kasumi POV**

Not many people knew about the training ground under Soukyoku hill. That I knew of there was only myself and Renji. I had stumbled upon him training in one of my first years in Seretei, as I was exploring the Court of Pure Souls, and used it for myself ever since.

I jumped down the ladder, slowing my descent with the application of reiatsu, and landed at the base. This was where I trained, this rocky desert with its miniature mountains, healing hot spring and artificial sky. I drew my sword, plunging it into the ground and feeding it reiatsu, a technique I had learned a long time ago.

At first the shape that appeared in front of me was just a sliver, a shimmering silhouette. Then it began to solidify, to take a real corporeal form, until the embodiment of my Zanpakuto came to life. I grinned at the ninja, who sported a large circular shield on one arm.

"Iku Kata." He nodded his head, removing the shield and sitting on top of it. I sat cross-legged on the ground as he spoke.

"I know why you've called me, Ken." His voice always reminded me of the wind, it sounded wispy, like it was simply blowing through the air.

"Of course, the same reason I've called you every time. I want my Bankai." He nodded.

"Yes, but this is different. Now you have a reason, a reason to fight, and a reason to use my power. But before I give you the chance to earn your Bankai, I want to hear it from you. Why do you fight?" I frowned in confusion. Nothing had changed, nothing that I knew of. But regardless of nothing changing, I knew why I fought.

"For her. For Soi-Fon."

**Mugen's POV**

Finally, we were having a Captains only meeting. Although it was not nearly as formal as the other ones we had, instead it was more of a meet and greet. There was sake and food, and the meeting was being had in the First Squad's cafeteria instead of the Assembly Hall. I watched from a corner as Neliel, fully equipped with a shit-eating smile, greeted one Captain after another. They had gathered in a crowd around her, even the coldest of Captains showing interest.

Soi-Fon dislodged from the group, walking over to the corner table and taking a seat across from me. I turned to her, taking my attention off the Aarancar and smiling at her.

"I didn't think you were going to talk to me." I confessed. She folded her arms over her chest and scowled.

"Of course I'm going to talk to you…" She leaned in, her blue eyes nervously staring at the ground, drumming her fingers absentmindedly on the wood of the table and clearing her throat. I smiled.

She was, in her own way, excessively beautiful. Strong, fit, lithe, and smart. But I could tell that personal connections were not her strong point. I waited, willing to talk on her terms. Finally, after a few seconds, she looked up from the ground and sighed.

"I'm sorry about last night. I didn't want to run… I just… I got nervous. I thought I would do something wrong." Checking quickly to make sure none of the Captains were looking, I reached my hand out and lightly placed it over hers, smiling.

"That's a relief. I thought I was coming on too strong." She cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Were you… planning this?" Grinning smugly, I leaned back in my chair, removing my hand from the table and shrugging. Her look was priceless, an astonished smile that let me know she was surprised/ecstatic. It felt good.

I first noticed her when I became Captain, during my testing, when she beat the crap out of me for three minutes straight. I passed the test, by landing a hit on her when she made the mistake of attacking my 'blind' side sloppily. Back then I had just found her… intriguing.

But I couldn't just talk to her. For once, I found myself caring what another person thought, legitimately hoping she would like me. I was intimidated.

It was creepy, but I had watched her… sort of. Whenever she talked, I listened, whenever she walked by I watched. Finally, one day, she had sparred Kyouraku. I noticed she was a poor swordsman, and had a reason to talk to her.

"How long?" She asked.

"Since the Captaincy exam." She leaned back in her chair, her brow furrowed and a wide smile gracing her face as she folded her arms over her chest once more.

"You… you had a crush on me?" I shrugged, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah."

**Kyouraku's POV**

Luckily for them, I was the only one who noticed Soi-Fon dragging Mugen out of the building, the two of them smiling and laughing like teenagers. I kept it to myself, turning back to Neliel and passing her a cup of sake. She sniffed it, wrinkling her nose and shaking her head.

"Oh no thank you, that doesn't smell like I would enjoy it." Darzu snatched the cup out of my hand, tilting his head back and downing it in a single go. I laughed, patting him on the back and turning to Nel.

"It's an acquired taste." The more rowdy Captains, Darzu and Kenpachi in particular, were beginning to descend into drunkenness. I was buzzed as usual, but I was more of a relaxing drunk, and I could not help but find conversation with Neliel interesting.

"I don't know why you would start drinking something that you had to get used to in order to enjoy." She said skeptically, watching as I poured myself another shot of sake. I shrugged.

"Because now I get to enjoy it." Nel nodded.

"Yes I understand, but why did you start drinking it when you didn't enjoy it?" The question was actually surprisingly profound. I paused, frowning and furrowing my brow. Why _had_ I started drinking?

"That's a very good question!" Tilting back my head, I poured the sake down my throat.

**Anna-Anna's POV**

It was only our second night together, but already the Vizards seemed to have dropped their preconceived notions about us. I had not made any friends, nor did I have any desire to, but several members of my group seemed very popular. Seira was, as always, the main attraction. She spent most of her time flirting with a large, muscled man with snow-white hair, much to the aggravation of his green haired female companion.

Kaishiro, our red-eyed eleventh in command who wore his long jet black hair in a ponytail, was becoming good friends with a man named Rose, who was teaching him to play a musical instrument known as a violin. Kaishiro was no musical genius, but was picking it up rather decently. I thought that if perhaps he trained with the same dedication he seemed to have towards his music, he might rank higher than eleventh.

Salazar was, as usual, off with Gin. None of the Vizards seemed to want to talk to Gin at all. I could understand why some might fear him, he was a malicious sociopath, but that never stopped any of us from befriending him.

"Anna-Anna, right?" I jumped, having not heard anyone approaching me from behind, and instinctively lashed out. The blow landed, but seemed to have no effect on the shopkeeper, who simply continued smiling at me. I bowed politely.

"I apologize, I am not used to being surprised." He smiled, taking a step forward so he could stand next to me, and followed my gaze down at the mingling groups.

"Ah… they seem to be getting along well." The blonde man mused, tipping his hat slightly backwards to get a better view. I smirked.

"Bad news for you." He turned to me with an eyebrow cocked.

"Why's that?" I didn't take my eyes off my mingling companions.

"If we become good friends with your friends, you can't abandon us." In my peripheral vision I could see him tilting his hat forwards, a sign that he was either nervous, or thinking hard.

"Now that Gotei 13 is in the hands of that 'Yamamoto' man, who supported the original integration, it's more than likely that his only demand will be that you get rid of us and Gin-sama. Except now that it's obvious we're not all sociopathic souls, who want nothing more than to bathe in the blood of everything we see, I'd imagine your friends might have a few objections. Not you though, would you, Urahara-san?" While the shopkeeper was certainly somewhat more of a mystery than most people I met, he was not too mysterious to decipher. It just took me a little longer than usual to get a read on him.

Was I the most skilled warrior in the room? No. Was I the most intelligent? No. But the one thing I could do, better than anyone, was figure out how a person worked. And Kisuke Urahara, at heart, did not care about us. He was out for his friends.

He smiled reassuringly at me, patting my shoulder.

"Of course I would have objections. To lose a pretty young girl like you, tsk tsk, what a waste it would be!"

**Mugen's POV**

Running my fingertips over the smooth skin of her stomach, I smiled as Soi-Fon hissed in a breath. The two of us were, for lack of a better word, cuddling. Or snuggling, whichever the proper term was.

I was lying on my right side, next to her, and she lay on her back, atop my Captains cloak, using hers as a blanket that covered us both.

"Stop that." She objected, her smile giving her away. My fingertips continued to slowly run up and down her stomach, and the objections stop as she closed her eyes, leaning her head back onto my other arm, her eyes shutting and her head turning to face me. I planted a kiss on her forehead and her eyes fluttered open, a loud sigh escaping her lips.

"Don't go to sleep." I mumbled, feeling pretty tired myself. She nodded, sitting up and quickly slinging her leg over my hips, her hands pushing down on my chest so that she was straddling me, a smug smirk plastered on her face.

"Why would I sleep? I'm hardly done with you yet, Kuriyuke."

**Kira's POV**

I woke up to the feeling of the floor hitting my face, as I fell out of the office chair I had fallen asleep in. With a loud groan I pushed myself up, rubbing my aching jaw and standing up with a sigh. I had fallen asleep at my desk…

"Hey Kira." Rubbing my eyes, I looked up to see my Captain standing in his doorway, holding a cup of coffee. He was freshly showered, and I frowned.

"What time is it, Taicho?" If he was up, it couldn't be before noon. Mugen shrugged.

"It's like, ten. I think. Don't take my word for it though, you should probably check a clock, or ask someone more reliable." He strolled over to his desk, where I had fallen asleep, and promptly fell into his chair. Sipping his coffee loudly, he propped his feet up on the desk and stared at me.

"So what happened to you? This is the first time I can think of you falling asleep in here. Rough night?" I nodded.

"Hai, Taicho. I spent most of the night helping Oderschvank-san out with her room, and came in here to finish the paperwork. I must've fallen asleep." Mugen laughed.

"That sounds awesome, absolutely awesome Kira. But don't bother with the paperwork, you know my policy." I nodded.

"Hai Taicho, I just figured that some of this stuff is actually important. I had to fill out the expense reports for ambassador Oderschvank." Setting down his cup of coffee, which was empty, Mugen stood up and rolled his shoulders.

"That's a really cool story Kira. I'll be in my hammock if anyone needs me." Humming, and looking decidedly cheery, Mugen strolled out the back door and shut it behind him.

**Neliel's POV**

The first round of negotiations were not until the next day, until then I was left by myself in the Third Squad building. I had decided to stay there, due to its close proximity to the First Squad building, and the fact that Mugen was the only Captain I had any sort of familiarity with.

Their back yard was very beautiful, lush and green with cherry blossom trees in full bloom. I strolled through the Captain's office and out of the back door, taking a deep breath of the fresh air and smiling.

After hopping over the porch railing and taking a few steps, some movement in the corner of my vision caught my eye. I turned my head to see Mugen, smoke drifting lazily from his nostrils, relaxing in some sort of net that was strung between two of the trees. He rocked back and forth, apparently unaware of my presence. I strolled over to him, and he finally noticed me when I was roughly twenty feet away, turning his head and waving.

"Hey Neliel. Did you have fun at the party last night?" I nodded. It had been fun watching the effects of alcohol slowly impede the senses of several Captains. Stopping next to the net, I stared at him curiously.

"Yes, but oddly enough I don't remember seeing you there." I pushed the net lightly, watching Mugen's expression change as he rocked back and forth, a wide smile splitting his face. His visible eye shut and he sighed loudly.

"Yeah, that sucks, I was busy." I could tell by his tone that he did not want to be questioned any further, so I simply shrugged, leaning against the tree supporting the net at his feet and folded my arms.

"So Mugen… I've been wondering." His eye opened, the dark green pupil lazily matching my stare.

"Why'd you let me go?" Grabbing the rope of the net he lay in, I held him still, watching his reaction closely. He lifted his cigarette to his lips, taking a long drag before exhaling twin streams of smoke through his nose.

"I don't know." It had been on my mind for a while. I cocked an eyebrow.

"You don't strike me as a person who does anything without a reason." He closed his eye, flicking his cigarette off to the side. After a few seconds of silence, he opened his eye to look at me, his smile gone.

"I was going to kill you. I had my sword at your throat, and it was like I couldn't move. I mean literally, it was like something was physically holding me back. I tried pressing down, but my sword just wouldn't move and…" Another shrug, "after a while of looking at you like that I felt… guilty. That's it." Jumping out of the net so suddenly I almost jumped, he rolled his shoulders and strode past me, not even sparing a glance back.

**Arata's POV**

"So it's agreed. The entry fee is one week's pay, no Captains allowed, no Bankai, and winner takes all." I nodded, tipping back in my chair and plopping my feet down on the table. I was the one who had insisted on the 'no Bankai' rule. Because while I had no chance against the likes of Ikkaku and Renji if they were using their Bankai, with enough preparation beforehand I could overpower any lieutenant.

"I'm in." I yelled, sliding my manila envelope forward. Renji had proposed a lieutenant tournament, for lack of a better word. Matsumoto echoed me, sliding a similar white envelope forward.

In the end, all of the lieutenants (except Yachiru, who was replaced by Ikkaku) entered. Even Isane, for some reason, decided she would compete. Renji collected all of the envelopes, placing them inside a locked safe, and wheeled forward a large chalkboard.

The room we sat in was usually used for official Gotei 13 business. A large, U-shaped table made of white plastic, surrounded by fancy wooden chairs was placed in the center of the room, with a sturdy mahogany desk in the front reserved for Sasibake during meetings. Today, Renji sat atop the desk, with the chalkboard to the side.

"I guess the easiest way to do this is to have Squad 1 will get a by in the first round. Then 2 vs. 3, 4 vs. 5, and so on." The chalk scraped loudly across the green surface, leaving its trail as Renji drew out a roster. I was faced up against Nemu, possibly the toughest opponent in the room. She had been 'encouraged' to compete by her Captain, whose 'encouragement' had left her with a split lip. I had seen her take a sword through the stomach from a fellow shinigami, a man who had gone crazy, and rip his throat out while holding him in place via the blade.

"My Captain has given me permission to use our Squad's headquarters for the competition. We'll start tomorrow at noon. Are there any questions?" I shook my head, standing up so quickly my chair fell over as it skid backwards.

"Nope." Turning quickly on my heel, I strode out of the room, intent on getting back to my squad as soon as possible to load my Shikai up.

**Kasumi's POV**

_This isn't right._ I thought to myself, staring at the brown leather-bound journal I held, still shut, in my hands. Peeking at it every once in a while, fine, but it was becoming too habitual. With a resigned sigh, I slipped Soi-Fon's diary into the exact position it had been in side her desk's top drawer.

"Where is she?" I muttered, pacing around her office. I wanted to get some training in before the competition, and she was the best sparring partner I had. I had become attuned to her reiatsu, but I could not sense it even in her training area. Wherever she was, she was concealing her presence.

**Soi-Fon's POV**

"What are you doing?" I asked lazily, tossing a grape in the air and catching it in my mouth. Mugen had brought an assortment of ropes with him to our picnic, and after spending a few minutes talking, had walked over to the tree line and appeared to be nailing them into the trees with the handle of his sword.

"It's a surprise. I think you'll like it though." We had ditched on our original plan of meeting at training, although Mugen never informed me ahead of time we would be doing so, he simply showed up carrying a wicker basket and a blanket.

_Not the worst surprise ever._ I thought with a smile, tossing another grape into the air.

"Hado 4, Byakurai." A purple beam of energy shot through the air, dissolving my grape as it hit its peak. Looking over, I could see Mugen was holding his hand out and had pointed a finger at the grape, though he was looking the other way.

"How did you do that?" I asked curiously. There was no way he could've seen where the grape was, and it was too small a target to acquire using reiatsu. He turned to face me, grinning.

"Secret. Check it out though." Stepping back and to the side to show me what he had done, Mugen held his arms out to reveal…

"A hammock?" Nodding enthusiastically as I stood up, he jumped into the makeshift bed, placing his hands behind his head and sighing loudly.

"I figured… maybe we'll be spending a lot of time here, not always training… so… you might want a hammock." I cocked an eyebrow, standing at the base of the hammock and staring down at him.

"Are you sure _you_ didn't want a hammock?" He scoffed.

"Don't be crazy. And don't knock it before you try it, get in." Sighing, I awkwardly maneuvered my way into the hammock, next to him. Wriggling into a comfortable position, I ended up leaning my head on his shoulder, my arms folded awkwardly over my stomach.

It was, however, very comfortable.

"Do you like it?" I nodded, yawning accidentally. I was on his left side, and could not fully see his expression, but I did see him smile.

"You can take a nap if you want. I'll wake you up in an hour." I shook my head, rolling my eyes.

"No I'm fine. Will you move your freaking hai-" The second my fingertips brushed the tip of his hair, which was as usual patted down over his eye, his hand shot up quicker than I could follow, his fingers wrapping quickly around my wrist to secure my hand in a vice grip.

After a few seconds of astonished silence on my part, he sighed loudly, letting go. His hand dropped limply back down to his side.

"Sorry. Please don't…" I nodded, feeling suddenly uncomfortable as my hand dropped back down to my stomach. He must've sensed it, because he shifted to lie on his side, so he could face me.

"I'm sorry about that." I turned my head to face him.

"What's under there that I can't see?" I asked, letting my hand linger on his cheek.

**Don's POV**

In terms of raw power, I was probably on the same level as Seira. However, due to my heart problems, I could not exert myself to the level needed to fight someone as strong as I was. Against an opponent that wasn't weaker than me, I was useless.

But against someone who was.

"You're going to have to move faster, Scorpio." I said lazily, ducking his sword and grabbing his wrist. My hand shot upwards towards his elbow, stopping an inch short. He sighed, standing up and running a hand backwards through his hair to un-plaster it from his forehead.

I had learned to fight in a way that I did not have to exert myself, rarely did I pursue my opponent, rather I sought to quickly end him once he was close enough to attack. When in my ressurecion, my condition was no problem, which allowed me to deal with enemies who specialized in long-range attacks as well.

"Good fight Don." Had I been a cockier man, I would've laughed. It had hardly been a fight. Scorpio had drawn his sword, lunged at me, swung a few times, and then I had shown that I could easily incapacitate him. Hardly a fight. But I was not a cocky man.

"Thank you Scorpio, you as well." Turning on my heel, I strode away from my training partner, towards the ladder at the end of the underground training area. The far end of the artificial desert had been converted into a makeshift bedroom for the many hollow hybrids staying in the Shoten, while the close end was still usable for sparring, as long as we were careful not to let the ceros fly too far.

"How ya doin' Don-dono?" I stopped in my tracks at the sound of the voice from above, sighing. Tilting my head back confirmed my suspicion; there was only one man in the world who could sneak by me unnoticed.

"I'm well Gin-sama, how are you?" While I wasn't one for casual conversation, but I had always found talking to Gin-sama to be an enjoyable experience. He shrugged, frowning, an odd inverse of his usual smile.

"Ah I'm feelin' kinda down Don-dono. All stuffed in this little shop twenty four seven. It's a little nerve wrackin'. Where ya headed?" Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his cloak, which I had noticed was almost identical to those the Captain's wore, he walked alongside me as I headed towards the ladder.

"Upstairs. I am having lunch with Harribel." His frown once more did a flip and reversed itself into a large smile.

"Ah, are you courtin' the beautiful Harribel-san?" I shook my head, smiling.

"Our relationship is purely platonic, Gin-sama. Besides, I have seen no signs that she is interested in me as anything more than a friend." My white haired commander shrugged, placing his hands behind his head as we walked.

"Ya never know Don-dono, sometimes friendship can turn into somethin' more… but do what ya want, I'm not stoppin' ya." Despite his roguish accent and stupefied appearance, Gin-sama was certainly one of the wisest people I had met. I knew it would be remiss to ignore his advice, in any situation. I bowed to him politely before turning to the latter and using sonido to propel myself up in one motion.

**Neliel's POV**

I had obliged Kira in a sparring session, being that I had nothing to do. The young blonde lieutenant was certainly an adept warrior, impressive skills for a lieutenant given what I had seen from the Captains.

"Remember Izuru-san, I am an opponent that easily outclasses you in terms of strength. You're going to have to make up for that in ingenuity." He had rushed me a number of times, and though I certainly didn't expect him to land a blow, the one thing I found frustrating about his particular style was the way he was trying to batter my sword down with multiple blows. While it would certainly work if I were weaker, against me it was like a fly trying to beat down an elephant.

He nodded.

"Sorry, I usually fight with my Shikai, it's a lot different." I sonido'ed behind him, pressing the wooden practice sword to his neck before he could react.

"And what if you don't have time to release?" In a surprisingly deft move, he switched the grip on his sword, thrusting backwards. I dodged it, using sonido to appear to his side, and lightly tapping his ankle with my sword.

"Now you're neck is slit, and you've lost a foot." Instead of lashing out with his sword, which was all the way on the other side of his body, he simply pointed two fingers at me.

"Hado 4: Byakurai!" A thin, weak, purple beam of kido sped towards me. Although my hierro easily would've deflected it, for the sake of the exercise I dodged, giving him time to adapt. He was able to block my counterattack, and put some distance between us with a flash step.

"Nice move." Both of us turned in surprise to see Mugen leaning on the railing of his squad's back porch, watching us lazily.

"Thanks Taicho." Kira said, dropping his stance and shrugging his shoulders. I took it as a sign he was done and dropped mine as well.

"You've got quite a skilled lieutenant, Mugen. Maybe he'll be a Captain some day." I said. Mugen removed a single cigarette from his pocket, nodding.

"Yeah, I'd bet on it. Say Kira, I heard about that lieutenant competition. It's not going to make your feel pressured or anything if I come and watch, right?" The blonde shook his head.

"Not at all. Thank you for the spar, Neliel-san, I'm going to get an early night. Should I take your boken?" I shook my head, holding out my free hand.

"No, your Captain and I are going to do some sparring. I actually need yours." He tossed me the wooden sword then bowed, strolling towards the porch where Mugen was smoking.

"We're sparring are we?" He asked with a smile. I nodded, tossing him the sword, which he deftly snatched out of the air.

"Yup. Or you could try to run, see whether or not I can catch you." Jumping over the railing, he spun the sword around in his hand experimentally.

"Hmm… sounds tempting… but I have to decline both offers. Today is the one day of the week I do solo training." He tossed me the boken, placing his hands on his hips and bending backwards until his back popped so loudly I winced.

"Solo training? You can't use any help?" After scratching his chin thoughtfully, he shook his head.

"Sorry, it's a little too dangerous for me to involve anyone else. I'm workin' on a technique I haven't quite perfected yet. You can watch, if you want." I tossed the two swords to the ground, walking with him as we left the squad building.

**Guinevere's POV**

"You're lieutenant's really something." Kyouraku observed as Himura and Nanao traded blows, sparring a few yards away. Much of his squad had gathered to watch, although the two seemed to be evenly matched.

"How do you figure?" I asked, curious as to his thoughts. He tilted his hat back, allowing me to watch his expression change.

"Look at her. Rikai-san isn't even close to as strong as my Nanao-chan… but she's keeping up no problem." He leaned back on his arms, yawning loudly.

"It's because she gets it. Fighting, she really understands her opponent. Makes her dangerous." As if to punctuate his point, Himura yelled loudly as she threw a roundhouse kick at Nanao, who blocked with both arms, countering quickly. I watched the two of them, engaged in what looked more like a dance than a fight, as it often did with two evenly matched opponents.

"That's why I picked her. The first time I saw her she was a fifth seat sparring her third seat. Keeping him on his toes." Taking a sip of sake, which I had learned to enjoy, I kept a close eye on the fight. Nanao was on the offensive, pushing Rikai back.

My lieutenant ducked a jab, sweeping at Nanao's legs, but the girl was well trained. Shifting her stance, Nanao blocked the sweep, putting Himura in a very vulnerable position.

"Hado 1: Sho!" A burst of kido shot out from Rikai's extended palms, pushing Nanao a few steps back and giving her time to recover. The spectacled lieutenant frowned as she resumed her stance.

"I didn't know we were using kido." Rikai shrugged as she brushed herself off.

"You never said we weren't." Kyouraku sighed loudly.

"Ah, now these two are going to tear up my back yard." Standing up, the kimono clad Captain began to clap loudly.

"Wooh, excellent match you two! Let's call it a day, shall we?" Rikai just shrugged, dropping her stance and turning to me.

"I'll go finish the paperwork, Taicho. Thank you for the spar, Nanao. Good luck tomorrow." Himura turned, flash stepping off into the distance, back towards our squad building, and leaving a ruffled Nanao dusting herself off and shaking her head.

"How rude." Kyouraku walked over to his lieutenant, patting her shoulder. I followed him, stopping a few steps away.

"Ah don't worry Nanao-chan, you're still number one to me." With a loud sigh, she planted her palm in his face, shoving him back and stalking off to her office. He watched her, smiling widely before turning back to me.

"She's something, huh?"

**Rikai's POV**

After discovering there was no paperwork to be finished, I decided to take a walk, to see if I could find anything interesting. It was not long before I found myself in front of the Sixth Squad building, sensing two strong reiatsu signatures from inside. Hopping over the large wall that surrounding their squad, I paced around the outside of the wooden building until I found the sources of the reiatsu in their back yard.

"Abarai, I fail to comprehend how someone who has mastered Bankai and is one of the most senior lieutenants can fail to cast a simple kido spell." Kuchiki, sounding unusually frustrated, extended his palm towards a large stone set at the opposite end of the yard.

"Hado 33: Sokatsui." A large blue ball of reiatsu sped across the field, crashing into the stone. Smoke rose from the boulder, and when it had cleared there was a large black soot mark. Renji groaned loudly, turning to his Captain.

"Taicho I'm not a kido type of guy! I just go in there and cut stuff to pieces!" Kuchiki snorted, surprising me by turning in my direction and pointing to me.

"Himura-fukutaicho, please demonstrate to my lieutenant how kido can be useful in a fight." I shrugged. Orders were orders.

"Bakudo 1: Sai." Pointing a finger at Renji, I quickly muttered the words to the spell. His arms quickly clenched together behind his back, and although the pink haired shinigami was able to break out in less than a second, by that time I had flash stepped in front of him and pressed my sword against his neck.

"I don't think you could have 'cut her to pieces' in that situation, Abarai. What is it you want, Himura-fukutaicho?" The serene noble turned to me, wearing the same expression as always. I smirked.

"Nice to see that hand print is gone from your cheek, Kuchiki-taicho." He showed no visible reaction, which caught me slightly off guard, and simply repeated his question.

"What is it you want, Himura-fukutaicho?" I shrugged.

"I was just wandering around and noticed you two practicing. Thought I'd come watch." Renji shook his head.

"Well I'm done practicing for today, Taicho. I have to finish the paperwork." Kuchiki nodded, his stare lingering on me for a few seconds before he turned on his heel and began to walk away. I jogged to catch up to him, then walked next to him quietly. After a few seconds he stopped in place, turning to face me.

"Can I help you with something?" I shook my head, flashing him a polite smile that was too fake not to be noticed.

"No, just walking." Something about the expression he always wore, the half lidded eyes, the perfectly straight thin pressed line his lips lingered in… it was absolutely unreadable, absolutely… interesting. I found myself just wanting to see how he would react.

"Then walk." Not even his tone changed. Not so much as a hint of stress, anger, sadness, joy… it was always flat, even, and managed. I turned on my heel, forcing myself not to look back as I strode off.

**Neliel's POV**

Mugen's 'super secret training place' was just a field on the outskirts of the sixth district. There was nothing to be seen for miles around, except for a forest that started about thirty miles out. Other than that it was just rolling hills, grass, and wind. I sat atop a small stone with my legs crossed as he explained.

"I call it flash dancing. I've been working on it for a while… I used it on you, once." He removed his Captain's cloak, balling it up and tossing it to me, and then drew his swords.

"I'm not sure how Sonido works, but the idea behind Shunpo is basically that you propel yourself with reiatsu, so you can move quicker." To illustrate his point he flash stepped to the top of a hill and back before continuing.

"So I got to thinking, one day, that if I can move my entire body with a flash step, why can't I move my sword with one?" Mugen took a deep breath, exhaling loudly, his hands hanging limply by his sides. Then, they seemed to simply… be in front of him. That I could see, there was no movement taking his hands from his sides to directly in front of him, they just were in one place… then they were in another.

He began to do more complicated moves, until soon his blades and arms were just blurs, whizzing back and forth faster than I could follow. After a few seconds he stopped, breathing heavily and dropping his swords, putting his hands on his knees and sighing loudly. Arching his head back, he grinned at me.

"I've gotten better. First couple times I tried I dislocated my shoulders. Now, I just get too tired, can't do it for more than a couple seconds… and sometimes it's hard to keep track of where my hands are… I cut my last cloak to shreds… anyways." He sheathed his swords, tossing me the two Zanpakuto and hopping from one foot to another.

"After I got to the point where I could do it to my swords without hurting myself, I wanted to try with my arms… that's a lot harder." Standing still, he took another deep breath, letting his hands hang limply by his sides before exhaling loudly. Once again, his hands seemed to simply teleport from place to place. I could tell that this was much more dangerous, as he stopped in between every movement for a few seconds, and only did it five times.

"You're the only person I've ever used it on… sorry about that, by the way." I shook my head.

"No problem. Is there anything else?" I asked, standing up. He shook his head.

"Nope. I'm going to be here for the next couple of hours, so feel free to leave." He closed his eyes, continuing the entrancingly quick movements. As I continued to watch, I found that if I focused hard, I could see slight traces of the paths his arms took as they moved from one place to another, although the idea that anyone could react fast enough to dodge or block such an attack was ludicrous. If one could master such a technique…

**Darzu's POV**

The way Arata prepared his Shikai had always interested me. He would release it, turning the normal katana into a short sword with a ruby studded pommel, lay the sword across his lap as he sat down in a cross legged position, and meditate. His reiatsu levels would rise, until many of the lower seated shinigami were forced to leave the area. I knew that he was loading kido after kido into the sword, to use for tomorrow, his mouth twitching slightly as he quietly mouthed the incantations to each individual spell.

He had tried to use his Shikai on me once, and to his credit had done quite well. However, he had overestimated his power and tried to finish me off with a level 80 Hado. Before the spell had even left his sword, he had passed out, the spell fizzling out before it reached me. Against a fellow lieutenant, I had no doubts that he would be a dangerous opponent.

I watched him from the couch in my office as he meditated on the floor, his body surrounded by a green aura of reiatsu that lifted his dark black hair into the air as if he were falling. He had been at it for almost an hour now, not taking a single break.

I turned as the door to my office opened, to reveal one of my favorite subordinates. Standing up, I walked over to her and smiled.

"Rukia, how are you?" The raven haired noble smiled at me, shaking my hand and pointing at Arata, who hadn't even noticed her enter.

"What's Arata-san doing?" I smiled, placing a hand on her back and leading her over to him, careful not to get too close.

"Arata's preparing his Shikai for tomorrow's contest."

Rukia and I were good friends. She often came to me for advice, and because her boyfriend was barred from entering Seretei, I ended up escorting her to a number of high class social events in his place. Ever since Central 46's decision to eliminate the hollow hybrids, she had been frantic, and had been coming to see me more often. The noble was in a very fragile state.

"Let's go outside, so we don't disturb him." Letting my hand linger on her back for a second as we stepped outside, I pulled up a chair for her, and one for myself. Set a few feet apart, we both sat down. Her hands nervously folded and shifted themselves in her lap, and her eyes stayed glued to the floor as she sighed.

I smiled at her, ignoring the awkwardness of the moment and waiting patiently for her to start the conversation.

"So… do you think Arata-san will win? The competition, I mean." I thought about it for a few seconds before nodding.

"At the very least he'll make it pretty far. I wouldn't put it past him to win, since Abarai-kun and Ikkaku-kun can't use Bankai. Then again, his first round fight is against Nemu-kun. She scares me, that one." Rubbing my hand on my chin, I realized I needed to shave; the stubble was growing long enough that I could feel each individual hair.

Rukia nodded, brushing her jet-black hair out from in front of her eyes, both of which had deep purple bags underneath them.

"Have you been sleeping well, Rukia?" She shook her head, rubbing her eyes and finally bringing her gaze up from the floor to make eye contact.

"No, not really Karpyshyn-taicho." I nodded.

"Trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep?" She leaned back in her chair, her hands staying nervously folded on her lap.

"Staying asleep. I keep having nightmares."

"About Kurosaki-san?" She nodded, closing her eyes and sighing loudly.

"I'm so tired I could pass out… but I don't want to sleep. They're so vivid." I felt so badly for her, especially knowing that I had contributed to the massacre she feared.

Sometimes I thought about the way that Aarancar's last breath had been more of a gurgle, how he had gone from so proud to so pathetic in the last few seconds… but, it was my duty. I had no qualm with questioning orders, but that did not mean I would disobey them.

Still, I often wondered about the wisdom of this particular choice… the victims, not just the hollow-hybrids, but the friends and family, that these orders effected.

"I think you should talk to Unohana-san. She has medications that could help. In fact, consider that an order, I'll make you an appointment for tonight. No buts." I insisted when she opened her mouth to object, silencing her with a raised hand.

She was the type that would refuse help unless it was thrust upon her, which was part of the reason I liked her so much. Odd that such a fiery girl would have an ice type Zanpakuto.

**Kurugari's POV**

Talking to Shuhei had helped my emotional state. It was a one-time event, an unspoken agreement between us, but it allowed me to understand I was sad. I had yet to figure out why, but acknowledging my emotions helped me to squash them.

Ducking a slice aimed at my neck, I planted a hand on the ground to stabilize myself and planted both feet into his stomach. With my Geta, this was quite a painful move to be on the receiving side of. He doubled over in pain, coughing loudly, and I stood up quickly, smacking my palm on the back of his head, grasping him by the hair.

"To finish you off, I would use a kido spell at this point. Good spar, Shuhei." My technique and motivation was back, the paperwork had been caught up on, all in little more than a day.

He stood up, sheathing his Zanpakuto and rubbing his stomach, hissing in pain as he inhaled and wincing while he exhaled.

"Well, you've definitely got your form back, Taicho." He smiled at me, a gesture I did not feel the need to return.

"Thank you Shuhei, I owe that partly to you. I believe you will do well in tomorrow's competition." He shrugged, walking alongside me back towards the Squad building.

"I don't know, some pretty tough competitors. Matsumoto, Renji, Ikkaku, Kira… plus I haven't really seen any of the new lieutenant's fight yet, except Himura, and she's no joke." Without turning, I made sure to speak loud enough that he could hear me clearly.

"Do not second guess yourself, you are the senior most lieutenant, the most experienced, and the most powerful in my opinion. One piece of advice, do not hesitate to use your Shikai, it is your best weapon and you will need it against opponents like these." Stepping into my office, I turned, grabbing my door.

"Good night, Shuhei."

**P.S. Made charts for the Captain OCs, similar to the ones done for the other Captains, to add a little more information. (Keep in mind the stats aren't everything, Kenpachi defeated two Captains at once who both had higher stats then him.) **

Mugen Kuriyuke- 500

Offense- 90

Defense- 100

Mobility- 55

Kido/Reiatsu- 75

Intelligence- 95

Physical Strength- 85

Guinevere Callahan- 485

Offense- 90

Defense- 90

Mobility- 80

Kido/Reiatsu- 60

Intelligence- 85

Physical Strength- 80

Kurugari Hikari- 495

Offense- 80

Defense- 80

Mobility- 95

Kido/ Reiatsu- 80

Intelligence- 80

Physical Strength- 80

Saykora Masumi- 465

Offense- 70

Defense- 100

Mobility- 80

Kido/ Reiatsu- 80

Intelligence- 60

Physical Strength- 75

Darzu Karpyshyn- 450

Offense- 90

Defense- 50

Mobility- 60

Kido/Reiatsu- 80

Intelligence- 70

- Physical Strength- 100


End file.
